September 17, 2018: PNW Crop Report

A bit of rain made harvest last week a bit challenging for our Oregon growers, but the cool dry weather prevailed over the rest of the Pacific Northwest contributing to orderly ripening and generally excellent quality.  A light, cold wind blew across the Yakima Valley on Sunday signally the unofficial end of summer.  The pace of harvest has been good this year and most growers were confident the crop would be in the barn no later than the end of next week.

Based on our alpha-to-date report, Centennial, Simcoe® and Cascade alpha averages are tracking very close to 5-year averages.  Citra® alpha is slightly, but not significantly below average.  Early picked CTZ alphas were tracking slightly above average.  It remains to be seen whether this trend will continue over the next two weeks.  There is not enough data yet to estimate where alpha levels on other alpha varieties such as Nugget and Pahto® (formerly HBC 682) will register.

Yields on Oregon Cascades and Willamettes have been good.  Chinook in Idaho is coming in above average.  Centennial and Simcoe® yields were both below average.  Most growers seem happy with Citra® yields to date and Mosaic® harvest has begun in all regions.  Quality to date has been generally outstanding.

Cool, dry weather continues to dominate the forecast for the next two weeks.  Oregon will be wrapping up this week, but Idaho and Washington will have 10-15 days remaining.  We’ll be back next week with another update.