Cherry Marketing

Cherry Marketing. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Cherries across the northwest are beginning to ripen and hopes are that you will soon see a few varieties heading into the stores. James Michael is the promotion director for the Washington State Fruit Commission and Northwest Cherry Growers.

MICHAEL: We’re going to be strong in the month of July this year. Previous category research shows that cherries are the number one dollar per square foot item for the month of July and retailers are as under the gun as any sector of the economy set to perform this year and so even though we’ll be down, we’re going to miss the 4th of July I think the demand will be there both on the consumer side and retailer side.

That is good news for fans of northwest cherries.

MICHAEL: We knew just from the cold winter that we had and the cool spring that we were going to be later than our 10-year average start date and so from the beginning the industry and Northwest Cherries has communicated with retailers telling them that we’ll be focusing promotions in July and August.

Michael says they have seen a rise in the August volume over the last 6 years.

MICHAEL: And after the 2009 season when cherries were so plentiful and inexpensive for the consumer, I think retailers kept promoting them longer than ever and that carried over into 2010 where they did the same thing with a more expensive crop to the consumers.

More tomorrow.

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