Cherry Challenges Pt 3
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. In spite of everything 2020 has thrown at us, cherry growers are feeling pretty fortunate with harvest season in the rear-view and the domestic market treating them well.
Northwest Cherry Growers’ president, BJ Thurlby says we had more demand than we had product throughout the season and that doesn’t happen very often …
THURLBY … “You know, we usually don’t get three full months of sales where we don’t have a couple of weeks where we’ve got more fruit coming in than going out. It just didn’t play out that way and the domestic market really, really had a lot of pull.”
Thurlby says things looked a little “iffy” going into the season, but then people started eating more at home which worked out very well for cherry growers …
THURLBY … “I think that overall people who listen to the broadcast here in our state are probably going to go, wow, it’s good to hear that cherry growers actually had a year where they made a little money, which doesn’t seem to happen very often. But, from that standpoint, that’s a big positive so that should help the economy here in our state.”
The pandemic, Thurlby says may have a silver lining for all produce growers …
THURLBY … “You know, we’re still seeing more people going into grocery stores than probably they have in the last five years. But, at the same time I think that overall produce is in a good position here during this pandemic because people want to be healthy, you want to eat healthy, you want to focus on the things that make your body stronger that would fight off this virus should it be around, and it is.”
Thurlby feels like their online promotions this year really helped in the sale of cherries in the domestic retail market, but those numbers won’t be clear until later in the year.
