Fiscal 2007 was quite a year! As it began, your cooperative was preparing for what we expected to be a sizable crop for processing. We had every indication the crop would be large—alternate bearing cycle, big bloom, lower quality fruit—that’s what we planned for. As it turned out, that’s not what happened.

As you know all too well, last year’s hail damage and russet on Goldens initially appeared to be catastrophic. Based on similar scenarios in years past, packs per bin would be low and Tree Top plants would be backed up with fruit. Based on that expectation, we developed production schedules, and sales and marketing plans accordingly.

Mid-way through the year, we realized circumstances had changed, and not in Tree Top’s favor. Unfortunately, it was too late for your cooperative to make appropriate adjustments in our sales and marketing plans, product mix, or pricing. We had commitments with customers. We depleted our inventories, and expect to be short, again, this coming year.

It was, however, a tremendous year for you, our grower-owners. Demand on the fresh market was strong. Consumers were willing to pay higher prices for fresh fruit. And who could have guessed they would be willing to pay higher prices for, in some cases, lower quality fruit?

The thresholds for what normally would be a fresh apple changed, and packs per bin went higher. Apples that would normally have come to us for processing were being sold in grocery stores and produce stands. Apples that would have gone in bags were sold by the pound. Apples we would have peeled were sold in bags. It was the lowest volume of processor apples we’ve received in many years.