WSU researchers taking steps to protect apples from climate change

Climate change is hurting the apple industry and Yakima County is taking the brunt of it, Washington State University (WSU) researchers assessed in a recent study.

Researchers analyzed more than 40 years of climate conditions that impact apple growth and found apple production across the country is at an increased climate risk, a Monday news release from WSU stated.

The study noted the top three largest apple-producing counties in the U.S. — Yakima, Washington, Kent, Michigan and Wayne, New York — are among the most impacted. According to WSU, Yakima County, the largest apple producer in the country with more than 48,800 apple orchards, saw harmful trends in five of the six metrics analyzed.

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WSU climate scientist and the study’s corresponding author Dr. Deepti Singh told KIRO Newsradio fewer cooler days can make it harder for buds to properly form and bloom and when it gets too hot, the apples can get sunburnt, which appears like browning on the apples’ surface.

Because of these changes, Singh said apple growers are already adapting. For instance, some are using netting to shield apples from too much sun. But the added steps cost more. There are also indirect impacts of climate change on the crop.

“These climate conditions can affect pests diseases and affect pathogens that can also adversely impact crops as well,” Singh explained.

According to WSU, Co-author Lee Kalcsits, a WSU tree physiologist who leads programming at the Wenatchee Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center, is leading a project funded by a $6.75 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Washington is a great place to start to talk about adaptation,” Kirti Rajagopalan, a WSU biological systems engineer and study co-author, said in the release. “A lot of the commercial apple production happens in the northern U.S. There are also parts of Washington where the summers can get pretty hot, so this is a good place for a case study — and if we can manage it here, then it’s likely manageable elsewhere too.”

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Singh stated the team’s next step is to look at projections and to inform planning and management in the tree fruit industry.

“We shouldn’t take the delicious apples we love to consume for granted,” Singh noted in the news release. “Changing climate conditions over multiple parts of the growth cycle pose potentially compounding threats to the production and quality of apples. Moving forward, it would be helpful to think about adaptations at different stages of apple growth that can minimize overall harmful impacts.”

Contributing: Heather Bosch, KIRO Newsradio

Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.