Soft Fruit Part 2

Soft Fruit Part 2. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

This is the time of year between cherries and apples when soft fruit gets some attention here in the northwest. And while we are not known as being a large soft or stone fruit producer other areas of the country have had their problems this year. BJ Thurlby, Washington State Fruit Commission says this has been a good year.

THURLBY: People are excited about the fruit that we’re growing this year. And that’s the other thing about soft fruit when you compare it to something like cherries or even pears, the heat actually does not affect the soft fruit quite as much and it actually responds well to it. It builds the sugars. It’s going to be; we want it to be softer and it helps us achieve that.

The hail that moved through the area did have some affect.

THURLBY: The soft fruit crop definitely took a few hits. I can say we had a couple of places in the Basin and Tri-Cities that were affected by the hail. I know a couple of growers that had significant orchard land outside of Sunnyside that were completely wiped out. So we’ve had that little challenge and what that’s done to us is left a few holes in our manifest here and there but the good part is I think we’re past most of the varieties that were affected.

Unlike apples, which can be picked and stored for 12 months without any detrimental affects, soft fruit has a very short shelf life.

THURLBY: The shelf life on stone fruit is - it’s incredibly short. I mean if we have cherries here for over 5 or 6 days it’s really a surprise. It’s really a harvest, pack and ship type product. And that’s one of the biggest challenges of the cherry business.

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