Struggles With Logistics Remain One Of The Biggest Challenges For Tree Fruit Industry

Exporting farm commodities has challenging for the past couple of years, but those struggles have intensified over the past 12 months. For the tree fruit industry, logistics has been one of the biggest challenges according to Todd Fryhover, president of the Washington Apple Commission. He noted those challenges translate into customers waiting for apples, or store shelves that are bare. And Fryhover added the logistics problem is a hard one to overcome.

“That’s probably the most important thing, but unfortunately, that is not just one place to go in and fix. You have multiple entities that have to all perform at the same time to create that efficiency, and it’s just going to take some time before that actually happens.”

Fryhover said while they continue to struggle, they have gotten a bit of a reprieve.

“You know, when we can’t ship offshore or it’s delayed going offshore, then we have three choices. We have the U.S. domestic market, which can put pricing pressure. And then we have Canada and Mexico, which can do the same. So, our focus here at the Apple Commission on the promotional side is to really emphasize Canada and Mexico moving into the future.”

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