Cosmic Crisp Exceeds Expectations Pt 2
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. Anticipation for the launch of the Cosmic Crisp apple has led to a 6.8 million acres of 2018 plantings, a million over expectations.
Kathryn Grandy with Proprietary Variety Management says it's not TOO surprising ...
GRANDY ... "The Cosmic Crisp is an exceptional apple. It's beautiful, it's flavorful, it stores well, and so far, it's grower friendly."
And, Grandy says the plantings won't stop this year ...
GRANDY ... "We have a large number of trees going in next year and then we expect it to drop off and even out to maybe one or two million a year."
Grandy says consumers should get their first taste of Cosmic Crisp next year ...
GRANDY ... "We're looking at fall of 2019 right now and the industry, we're meeting on a regular basis and making those decisions and establishing some quality standards and how to finalize our plans to bring it to market."
She says it's great time for the industry ...
GRANDY ... "We're all excited and I know our growers are working hard to get them planted as quickly as possible and they're very enthusiastic and so are we. The amount of consumers writing in to social media and websites is fantastic so I know consumers out there are looking forward to the launch."
A team is working on the marketing plan which will be unlike most as it will be pushing the Cosmic Crisp brand and not just sales. An estimate of nearly 200,000, 40-pound boxes of Cosmic Crisp will hit the stores in the fall of 2019, with incremental increases in the following years.
