Variety hailed as the saviour of Washington state’s apple industry reportedly being propagated without permission
A report in US newspaper The Spokesman-Review suggests there is now a black market for Cosmic Crisp apples in the state of Washington, a development that will be of serious concern to those growers and marketers who have invested heavily in the licensed variety.
“Apple piracy is a problem,” Lynnell Brandt, CEO of Yakima-based Proprietary Variety Management (PVM), told the publication. “Some are propagating trees without permission. Some are stolen in the middle of the night.”
PVM is responsible for the commercial roll-out of Cosmic Crisp, which was bred at Washington State University and has been hailed as the saviour of the area’s apple business.
Since its commercial debut in 2019, over 17mn Cosmic Crisp trees have been planted across Washington State, reflecting growers’ high expectations for the variety’s market potential.
Its initial success and regular appearance among the most popular apples in the US comes at a good time for those growers, who have seen overall demand for apples slip in recent years.
Despite initial forecasts, mid-season packouts suggest this season’s crop will be around 134.6mn cartons. That would be just below last season’s volume, which was the second-largest on record and had growers barely breaking even.
