Cherry Crop's A Poppin'

Cherry Crops A Poppin’. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

All this rain we have been getting throughout the northwest has been a mixed blessing. I’ve not watered my yard in about a week but many cherry producers are sweating. Gip Redman with Oregon Cherry Growers is hoping Mother Nature moves on.

REDMAN: Unfortunately the Dalles luck ran out. It started Sunday night. Prior to Sunday night we were a little beacon of hope out there in the cherry world for this time of the season. There’s a lot of good cherries still to come it’s just in the moment the Bing harvest has been damaged.

In Washington the estimates are that 25% of the Bing has been damaged. Redman says initial estimates in their area are about 10% but that is conservative.

REDMAN: We’ve got some growers that are going to have to go to processors with the rest of their crop. We’ve got some growers that are going to be able to go to the fresh market and then we have some in between that we don’t know yet.

Still cherries are coming off the trees and there are many more yet to come in the next few weeks. A look at the extended forecast does show clearing conditions.

REDMAN: We’ve got a lot of fruit and Washington has got a lot of fruit. There’s a lot of area in Oregon that is late season now. Yes, some are cracked but they do a great job of sorting in the orchard but we segregate fruit and once it gets to the packing line they do an outstanding job of getting the right fruit in the boxes.

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