Estimates made in June, well before picking began, projected a fresh market harvest of 19.8 million 44-pound boxes, the standard measurement unit. The estimate was 4 percent larger than the five-year average, and would have made it the third largest crop grown by the Wenatchee and Yakima regions of Washington and the Mid-Columbia and Medford regions of Oregon.
The record is 20.5 million boxes, set in 2011-12, with the 2009-10 harvest of 20.1 million boxes in second place. Since the June estimate was made for 2013-14, excellent growing conditions resulted in a bigger crop than expected.
Some growers were hard-pressed to find enough pickers at peak harvest in mid-September, when the Hood River Valley alone employed about 1,800 pickers a day.
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