Tuesday, Aug. 15, marks the last day of a very sweet 2017 cherry season for Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers, and according to Oneonta Marketing Director Scott Marboe, this year’s crop “surpassed our highest expectations.”
The last of the season’s fruit is from Halverson Ranch orchard, the company’s highest at an elevation of 3,400 feet. Marboe said, “It is among the highest elevation cherry orchards in the state, but it still matured earlier than we expected due to the warm weather we’ve had in the Northwest for the last few weeks. So we’re bringing in the last of this exceptional crop, and Aug. 14 will be our final day.”
Summing up the excellent 2017 season, Marboe said demand and movement were strong from start to finish.
“We had several of our retail partners hit record sales in both volume and retail dollars,” he said. And working with its retail partners to provide consumers with outstanding quality, the Oneonta production and packing teams “did an excellent job at keeping our fruit fresh and moving through the system,” Marboe added.
“The cherries were very well-received, and the retail displays were fantastic this year,” he said. Demand was also very strong for export fruit.
“Although size was somewhat of an issue in the June period, we really saw it pick up once we hit the newer varieties,” Marboe continued. “And the Unitec optical sorting lines did everything we hoped they would once again. They are changing the way our industry gets cherries through the system.”
With summer cherries now officially a sweet memory, Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers is gearing up for what Marboe said is the “start of an exceptional apple and pear crop, picking our first Bartletts this week and apples right behind them.”
The pear crop is showing excellent quality, and in the apple category, new varieties are being offered in commercial volume for the first time. Stay tuned!
For more information:
Scott Marboe
Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers
Tel: 509-663-2191