The English cherry harvest has now started and after a wet dull June the crop is coming on quickly and volumes are building.
“Sizing will be mixed due to the hot weather we have seen so far in July,” explains Emily Cliff from Lower Hope Farms. “The high yielding varieties will tend to have smaller berries while the lower yielding ones are seeing better sizes.”
The cooler wet weather in June followed by high temperatures in July has caused a bit of splitting, but apart from this the season is looking promising. The English cherry season will hit its peak at the end of July.
“We are picking a lot now and volumes will continue to increase in the coming weeks. As well as supplying the retailers we will export to Europe again this season. Prices are low at the moment in Europe with a lot of local production on the market but when they pick up in a few weeks we will begin to export. We have done trials in the past and export is dependent on the volumes.”
Lower Hope Farms grow all their cherries under cover. They grow the all the traditional varieties such as Sweetheart, Regina, Lapin and Stella and this season will also have good volumes of Sentennial an exclusive Berry Gardens variety.
All packing is done on-site and Emily said this season there will more bigger packs of 700g-800g to encourage sales, as well as the traditional smaller formats.
For more information:
Emily Cliff
Lower Hope Farms
Tel: +44 1432 8201218
Email: Emily@lowerhopefarms.co.uk
www.lowerhopefarms.co.uk