Just like a freshly polished display of McIntosh, the 2019 New York apple crop will shine this fall, with an abundant and healthy harvest expected.
“New York apple production will be on par with our five-year average,” Cynthia Haskins, president and chief executive officer of the New York Apple Association in Fishers, NY, told The Produce News. “Last year, our estimates were a little conservative as the USDA reported higher numbers. This year and to this end, we are looking at around 31 million bushels — that is down compared to last year but ahead of previous years.” 
As of late July, positive reports were being issued about the crop, with estimates predicting a nice crop with a good range of sizes.
The Empire State’s apple acreage has been holding steady, Haskins noted, with farmers devoting more space to newer varieties.
“New York has a strong mix of standard-size trees and dwarf and semi-dwarf trees,” Haskins said. “Commercial growers are transitioning from standard-size apple trees to compact dwarf and semi-dwarf rootstock. This allows more trees to be planted per acre (aka tree density) and yields more fruit per acre. These trees also reach fruit-bearing age faster.”
As a result, farmers are able to grow many consumer favorites.
“Gone are the days when a consumer has just one favorite apple variety. Today, they have a menu of several to choose from,” Haskins said. “Legends like Empire and McIntosh and others have a fan base and those fans often call our office wanting to know where they can find those favorites and others.”
In fact, when the NYAA sampled Empire apples at the Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit last year, after enjoying its unique sweet and tart taste, many buyers asked if it was a new variety.
“Consumers are also enjoying two of the newer varieties exclusively grown by our New York growers — Snapdragon and RubyFrost. Both are quickly becoming sought after varieties,” Haskins said.
Since 1959, commercial New York State apple growers have paid an assessment to promote New York State apples and apple products, provide grower communications and conduct consumer research. This year the assessment will really be bearing fruit with the widespread rollout of the new Apples from New York logo, which had a soft launch in 2018, and largely replaces the Apple Country logo.
“The Apple Country 3- and 5-pound poly bags will continue to appear in many grocery stores, and we are also debuting the new Apples from New York poly bag. The four-color poly bags will showcase an image of apple trees along with the new logo and a band of colors that ranges from gold to green to red,” Haskins said.
“NYAA is also debuting a new tote. The tote represents freshness and Orchard-grown Goodness,” Haskins noted. “Also, NYAA has created two sizes of display apple shippers — with brilliant colors of different apple varieties, drone images of apple orchards and more. We also also making available matching bin wraps and display wraps, and matching point-of-sale has been created as well.”
NYAA has partnered with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and created a New York Grown and Certified point-of-sale to also promote the popular fruit.
To maximize sales, Haskins suggested retailers give each apple variety enough shelf space. “NYAA is pleased to make available display shippers for retailers who need additional space to display New York apples,” she said.
To further market New York State apples, a series of grower orchard video stories have been created and will be shared on social media, NYAA’s www.applesfromny.com website and will be made available to retailers.
“We are launching a series of new ad campaigns targeting consumers. These will play out on social media as well as in print,” Haskins said.
Last year NYAA created a commercial featuring New York apple growers that won a Telly Award, a premier honor recognizing video and television across all screens. Established in 1979, the contest has grown to include more than 12,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents.
“NYAA’s commercial was produced last year by Dixon Schwabl and aired during the 2018 fall harvest, achieving more than 12 million impressions,” Haskins said, adding that it also aired during the week of the NYC Marathon and made an “impressive” 8,076,300 total impressions on Marathon day alone, along with another 8 million impressions on a variety of cable networks and network shows including The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, This is Us, Superstore, Dateline NBC and Saturday Night Live.
For the Outstanding Work for Local TV, Business-to-Consumer category, NYAA won the Bronze Telly Award for its commercial showcasing apple growers across New York State. “The footage was captured using a drone camera. Growers were positioned throughout the orchard and several were interviewed separately for spots that appeared throughout the commercial and on social media, as well as their upcoming plans for the 2019 crop year,” Haskins said.
