Fred Hess, co-owner of Hess Bros. Fruit in Lancaster, PA, told The Produce News that his brother, Jerry Hess, who was previously his partner in the business, has retired.

“I now have three new partners,” said Mr. Hess. “Jerry’s son, Ryan Hess; my nephew, Andy Figart; and Jerry’s son-in-law, Zack King — who are all young men — have joined me in ownership and management of the company. They have all worked for the firm for some time.”

The new partnership was made official in early December. Ryan Hess is in charge of fruit procurement and grower relations.Fred Hess' new partners in Hess Bros. Fruit — Zack King, human resources and assistant plant manager, Ryan Hess, fruit procurement and grower relations, and Andrew Figart, sales and marketing. Mr. Figart oversees sales and marketing and Mr. King manages human resources and is the assistant plant manager.

The company also has interesting apple news to report this year. It sources from numerous regions in the East, and depending on the region the crop volumes ran from very good to very poor.

“Virginia growers had nice crops with pretty good volumes,” said Mr. Hess. “A little farther north in Pennsylvania, the crops were also very good and with strong volumes. As we moved into New York, however, things changed dramatically. Some New York varieties, such as the McIntosh, were significantly down from normal years. But the reds, golds, Fuji and Granny Smith apples were in good shape.

“We’ll have some gaps moving forward,” he continued. “We’ll have supplies going into spring, but not into fall this year.”

He pointed out that the season started two weeks earlier than normal last fall, and it started out very strong. This factor is also playing in on why the season will end earlier than normal.

A short crop, however, is even more disheartening when one considers how strong the demand for apples is today. Mr. Hess said movement has been extremely good, and he expects it to continue to be in the future. He acknowledged the new acreage that is being planted throughout the Northeast in recent years.

“If Mother Nature allows these trees to produce, we’ll have a significant amount of fruit on the market in a few years,” he said. “Our hope is that domestic consumption will continue to increase, but we also expect to move into more exports.”

Prices, he noted, have been high and will continue to be until supply and demand level off. But he feels that they should remain on the high side, even when the U.S. crop is abundant.

“We’re seeing about 20 percent higher prices this year,” said Mr. Hess. “And we need to hold some higher pricing in order to compensate for the higher cost of production today. Consumers are buying the apples at these high prices now, and that’s proof that they’ll continue to buy them if prices stay at this level. It’s simply impossible to produce apples at the old low prices.”

He added that the apples in storage are coming out in good condition and high quality.

“Everything seems to be in very good shape today,” he said.