North Bay Produce, a Traverse City, MI-based cooperative of growers, is offering a versatile varietal mix and large sizes in its 2023 portfolio of Michigan apples. Ken Korson, sales and apple category manager at North Bay, raved about this year’s crop. “It is possibly the largest crop Michigan has ever had,” he said. 

Korson noted an ideal pre-harvest climate positioned Michigan apples for this year’s historic run. “The spring and summer weather came with timely rains, which helped produce larger fruit sizes,” he said. 

CMI’s freshest CatStats report, released Jan. 31, demonstrates Ambrosia Gold’s remarkable performance and shares CMI’s role in the extraordinary success of the variety in U.S. markets.

With a preseason estimate of 29.5 million bushels via the USDA August report, the Michigan Apple Committee, based in Lansing, MI expected this year’s crop to beat that estimate by several million bushels. “Based on conversations with industry members and looking at storage reports for the year so far, I’m thinking the crop size is closer to the mid-30s [million bushels],” said Diane Smith, executive director of the Michigan Apple Committee.

In November, the Autumn Glory apple hit the retail shelves for a record-shattering season start. Shipment volumes were at all-time highs, ranking Autumn Glory as No. 2 in the Washington state “Other Variety” category, according to the November shipment report. The week after Thanksgiving sported a whopping 104 percent growth over the previous year.

In what is expected to be a down crop overall for Washington state, the Honeybear Brands premium variety Pazazz is up in volume and quality. “We have a nice crop of Pazazz coming along, our largest crop yet,” said Don Roper, vice president of sales and marketing at Honeybear Brands.

CMI Orchards is bringing apple-eating into the 21st century with Flavogram, a visual guide to apple flavor profiles. “We’ve taken what has historically been a one dimensional approach and increased the breadth and depth with which we describe and compare apple varieties,” said Rochelle Bohm, vice president of marketing for CMI Orchards.