The whole industry is continuing to shrink. Ferriera attributes the downward spiral of the state's apricot industry to pressures from lower-priced imports, higher processing costs, lower profit margins and changing consumer habits. Growers will be concerned with finding a home for their fruit and concern over the availability of water, energy shortages and increased costs. The cost to produce a ton of apricots for 2001 will be the highest in history. Today, one-third of the state's apricot crop remains unsold as growers prepare for this year's harvest which occurs between May and July.
Some growers have partial orders contracted and some only have a promise of a contract.
Ferriera said growers must make immediate economic decisions about the crop with no assurance of a market come harvest time. Farm Bureau member Dave Santos, of Lucich-Santos Farms in Patterson, is one apricot grower who has fruit orders contracted for this year. With all of the apricots unsold, a lot of people are trying to get into the fresh market. Producers say the loss of the dried apricot industry is a direct result of Turkish imports. This past summer and fall, the canning sector of the dried apricot industry faced a very similar threat from duty-free apricots coming out of South Africa.