Cherry Crop from WSTFA
From the Ag Information Network, this is today’s Fruit Grower Report. If you love Northwest cherries, this is your time of year.
Jon DeVaney, president of the Washington State Tree Fruit Association, says cherries are the first fruit off the trees and estimates call for nearly 230,000 tons …
DeVANEY … “Well, we’re helping our members with tracking data on the launch of cherry season. You know, we are well into cherry shipments and there’s been a lot of excitement. It’s been a great quality crop this year, which after the past couple of challenging years, I think everyone, especially consumer and those of us who love to eat cherries are particularly excited about it.”
Fortunately, DeVaney says we saw fewer weather issues this year …
DeVANEY … “The last two years we had weather problems, first heat dome and then that erratic spring that really compressed the timing of the crop and resulted in a declared disaster for our cherry industry.”
Overall, DeVaney says the cherries are looking great …
DeVANEY … “Though we had some difficult winter weather this year, that affected some of the later harvested, northern and higher elevation orchards, our overall cherry quality is fantastic this year. And our timing is pretty close to normal so that we’ve had an orderly transition from the California crop to the Northwest crop and that’s resulting in some good, steady shipments, strong demand and, we’re still hopeful, some good profits for growers this year.”
DeVaney says harvest runs into August so you’ve still got time to enjoy our delicious Northwest cherries.
