05/23/08 Fruit Check Part 2

Fruit Check Part 2. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Cooler weather this spring has some fruit growers wondering what this year will bring. Some early frost caused some damage in certain areas which will affect yield a bit and according to BJ Thurlby with NW Cherry Growers it's likely to be down. THURLBY: Right now the crop, I mean it's far enough out that we do think we've got in the 9 to 10-million box range but that's down last year by 5-million so it's just significantly down. We're hoping that from here on out we get the warm weather, we avoid the rain, there's not a big drop but every grower has a sad story to tell. And accordingly prices will reflect that shortage. THURLBY: You know last year the average retail to the consumer was about $2.82. The crop being as short as it has been this year you've got every grower that has any cherries has put in significant hours heating and dollars heating running wind machines, running water and it just makes economic sense that a grower will probably going to need a few more dollars this year to actually break even. So in all of that, is there any ray of hope? THURLBY: The good new is because these trees have been thinned and there's way higher leaf to cherry ratio than where we've anticipated we're bound to have big huge fruit and the stuff should be well worth waiting for. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.