Cherry Crop Estimate

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

During the Five State Cherry meeting on Wednesday growers from across the region put together an educated guesstimate of what the 2014 crop will look like. NW Cherries, BJ Thurlby gives us the news.

THURLBY: Every year the cherry crop is contingent upon on what Mother Nature deals us when it comes to volume and quality and so much more but the good news this year is that the growers think they’ve got a - maybe moderate is the right word but it may be slightly larger than moderate crop but we’ve got a very nice crop on the trees. Estimates are right in that 20-million box range which is a very manageable number when it comes to trying to market the crop.

Thurlby says there is good separation between the various growing districts which will help with labor concerns.

THURLBY: It should end up being one that is conducive to labor movement throughout the harvest meaning that we’ll start in the hotter districts and finish up north and it looks like there’s a great crop in Oregon and it looks like we have a great crop in the state of Washington and when you put it all together it’s something we think we’re going to sell over probably 90 days. So that’s the exciting part. Most people are talking about how well the cherries are spread through the trees. We should have good size and we are coming into a market where people are just standing on their seats trying to get cherries.

Next week, Thurlby talks about the California crop and the export market.

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