Fruit size peaked at 80–88 in only one case.Įven when yields were high, such as 93 bins per acre one year in Quincy, fruit size peaked at 64–72 bins per acre.

The peak box size shifted to 64–72 as years went on. In precommercial trials in Prosser and Quincy, more than half of the fruit volume in the second year of production was within 48–56 box size, according to a 2020 Washington State University report. The 2020 crop came mostly from third-year trees. But she expects growers will find ways to mitigate fruit size as they gain more experience with the apple.ĭata suggests sizes will also come down as trees mature. The WA 38 will always skew large, considering one of its parents is the Honeycrisp, also a large apple that fetches high prices, Hanrahan said. That’s not surprising either, said Ines Hanrahan, director of the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission. (Source: Proprietary Variety Management Graphic: Jared Johnson/Good Fruit Grower) In the 2020–21 season, many Washington growers missed the sweet spot for Cosmic Crisp pricing. The industry also is experiencing a disconnect between the highest-priced fruit size and the most common sizes.īox sizes 80, 88 and 100 fetched the highest per-box prices of $50.22, $52.52 and $58.27, respectively, but 48, 56, 64 and 72 box sizes comprised 65 percent of the crop. That was just a rough average for the time, based on reports ranging from $40 to $70, Hulbert said.

It also fell below a $55-per-box assumption used by WSU’s Scot Hulbert to project royalties at industry meetings in 2021. price fell below the blistering start of $63.92 per box for the apple’s rookie season in 2019–2020. That grade has since been replaced with U.S. Shippers found little market for the second - and only other - grade of Washington Fancy, which averaged $30.57. “Whether you think that prices should be higher or not, the WA 38 cultivar sold under the Cosmic Crisp brand name performed exceptionally well in this overly crowded field of branded apple selections - in a pandemic nonetheless,” Brandt said. Kevin Brandt of Proprietary Variety Management wraps up a presentation about Cosmic Crisp market performance in December at the Washington State Tree Fruit Association Annual Meeting in Yakima, Washington. Those figures have crept up since then, after more data was reported, Brandt said in a follow-up discussion with Good Fruit Grower.

However, 85 percent of all the Cosmics packed reached the highest grade of Extra Fancy, which averaged $51.29. for all grades, he said, based on data from the company’s Idyia database. It fetched an average of $46.88 per box f.o.b. The Honeycrisp was second at $2.46 per pound. “When you find success during a pandemic like Cosmic Crisp did, I’d say that you are doing quite well,” Brandt said.īrandt told growers at the Washington State Tree Fruit Association Annual Meeting in December that the Cosmic’s average price on store shelves was $2.67 for the 2020–2021 marketing season, highest among the top 15 varieties by volume in the U.S. Those are among the messages from sales data from the 2020–2021 season, shared by Kevin Brandt, vice president and chief operating officer of Proprietary Variety Management, the company contracted to commercialize the WA 38, Washington State University’s cultivar trademarked as Cosmic Crisp. Prices would be even higher if growers could bring down fruit size. Grower concerns, research, stats punctuate Cosmic Crisp sessionĭespite hand-wringing over greasy fruit, green spot and a pandemic, the Cosmic Crisp apple remains the highest-priced major apple on store shelves.

Cosmic apples