Peak Of The Season

Peak Of The Season

Peak Of The Season. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report.

The Fourth of July holiday is right around the corner and it's always been the target date for cherries. This year cherries started very early and have been really moving according to NW Cherries, BJ Thurlby.

THURLBY: The northwest cherry crop is coming aggressively and we've actually been averaging for the last three days over 500-thousand boxes so we're essentially at the peak of the season right now. So far we've shipped just over nine million, twenty pound boxes and so far demand has been good. You know we dealt with a little rain at the beginning the season and that was followed the next week by a little bit of heat and so the growers haven't had it perfect to say the least.

He says they are now working the back end of the crop.

THURLBY: Most of the Yakima Valley, Tri-Cities area has been harvested and there's a few late varieties here and there that guys are picking but for the most part we're starting to get into the higher elevations. Picking around the Wenatchee area is in the 14-15 hundred feet above sea level range; I know some growers that are at 18-19 hundred feet that'll be picking this weekend on some Skeena's and Lapin's which are kind of mid-late season varieties. Generally we are picking Skeena's and Lapin's somewhere around the 10th of July, anywhere from the 5th to the 15th. The markets still pretty strong this week. Spot market isn't quite what it was last week but I also think we've got some great 4th off July activity coming up.

That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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