Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Agriculture Apples topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Idaho Apple Commission reports smaller crops, cites frost, hail and labor pressures
Summary
Candy Fitch told legislators Idaho apple production has dropped from roughly 5 million bushels historically to about 1.5 million for a full crop today; the commission cited late frost, a hailstorm and expensive H-2A labor as pressures.
Candy Fitch, executive director for the Idaho Apple Commission, told the committee that Idaho’s apple industry has seen a long-term reduction in production and faces weather and labor pressures.
Fitch said the commission’s historical assessments once reflected nearly 5 million bushels; with a full crop today the state produces about 1.5 million bushels. She described 2024’s growing season as marked by a late May frost that reduced crop size on early varieties and a midsummer wind and hail microburst that damaged older trees and some large fruit fields east of Anderson Corner, south of Fruitland.
Fitch said the tree fruit industry in the Northwest has lost millions of dollars over the last two years as labor and input costs rose and marketing opportunities — including exports — were limited. She called the H-2A temporary agricultural worker program “very expensive” and said growers face limited seasonal worker supply.
Representative McCann asked what happened to the acreage and whether orchards were being plowed under or converted to development. Fitch attributed much of the long-term decline to a low-price period in 1999 when low-cost imported juice fruit made harvesting uneconomic for some growers; she also cited retirements and competition from larger Washington producers. Fitch said she would provide a missing commissioner name after the hearing when she could check her notes.
During follow-up discussion about H-2A costs, Fitch said she believed a current minimum pay rate discussed by growers was about $16 per hour; Representative Miller provided a more detailed figure from experience, saying for farm-and-ranch irrigation work H-2A rates were $16.48 per hour for the year discussed and noted employers must provide housing and transportation and guarantee a portion of the work period.
Fitch said the Apple Commission maintains memberships in regional organizations (Northwest Horticultural Council, Northwest Fruit Exporters, US Apple) and uses specialty crop grants for marketing. She presented a 2025–26 budget of $553,530 and said much of commission activity and grant-funded work remains consistent year to year.
