More On 2016 Cherry Crop

The upcoming five-state cherry meeting is about a month away and by that time the cherry crop is going to be well on its way to harvest, in fact there might even be some early harvesting before the meeting. The overall crop size will be the primary topic according to BJ Thurlby with NW Cherries.

THURLBY: I think the group will talk about numerous things but the primary purpose of the meeting is to cover what different districts and different states are looking like relative to the crop this year but it's a great forum because if you're a grower and you're not picking that day. and if you are I apologize, but if you are not picking that day and you have a minute to come grab lunch with us and talk a little bit about what you're seeing in your orchard, it's a great forum.

He says there are of course other discussions that will go on.

THURLBY: There's certainly some things out there that we're paying attention to, the markets themselves. Overall, Asia looks to be pretty strong but there's always something that you're worried about and this year we're seeing the turkish cherry crop, they've lost their best trading partner, Russia, in an embargo and one of the things that's different this year about that is Turkey just got access to China which is our number one off-shore market.

But Thurlby feels positive about this wrinkle.

THURLBY: I feel like we've got the right advantages because we've been in there for numerous years, we've got the right promotion programs and we've got a history that has been successful so I think we're in good shape but at the same time we're going to be watching that.

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