SUMMARY 



Production Trends 



Technological changes have been the cause of a nearly fivefold in- 

 crease in the production of apples per tree during the past 25 years. 

 As a result the total production has remained nearly constant in the 

 face of drastic reductions in the nundiers of apple trees and farms. 

 Heavy mechanization has led to the gradual estahlishnient of large scale 

 farms in specialized production areas. 



Marketing Trends 



In the early part of the century apples were considered a winter staple 

 and were handled, packed and sold in hushel or harrel lots with prac- 

 tically no grading involved. Today fresh apples move through market 

 channels as a highly perishable item. They are extensively graded, 

 placed in small consumer packages and usually refrigerated before final 

 sale. Where consumers once purchased the winter's supply in the fall 

 and did their own storing, they now purchase weekly in small lots and 

 let the producer or handler do the storing. The fact that production 

 areas have become fewer and more distant from consumption areas has 

 led to an increase in the interregional movement of fresh apples. 



Since canning, and other forms of processing apples, is now accom- 

 plished in the factory rather than in the home, two distinct markets 

 for apples at the farm have developed. Farmers now sell over one-third 

 of their crop to processors with the remainder of the crop going to 

 fresh apple markets. The processing market appears to act as a buffer 

 between variations in crop size and the quantity going on fresh markets. 

 Processors tend to buy heavy in surplus years and light in small crop 

 years which results in a fairly stable annual volume moving to fresh 

 markets. 



Consumption Trends 



During the past 25 years fresh apple per capita consumption has been 

 falling at the rate of over one-half a pound per year while processed 

 consumption has been increasing at the annual rate of about two-tenths 

 of a pound. Total per capita consumption has declined by about 50 

 percent during the past 40 years, but has been levelling off during the 

 past few years. Should consumption rates remain near current levels, 

 increases in population woidd materially increase the market for apples 

 in the near future. 



Transportation of Fresh Apples 



Because of the trend toward separation of production and consump- 

 tion areas for fresh apples, the cost of transportation has become an 

 increasingly important factor. At the present time the principle direc- 

 tion of long hauls is from west to east with the State of Washington 

 accounting for over 42 percent of the total interregional shipments. 



