So far, the 2020 cherry harvest has been a unique one, not because of coronavirus or trade issues, but because of Mother Nature.
B.J. Thurlby, President of the Washington State Tree Fruit Commission, said the weather has not been cooperating with growers, creating slowdowns in the harvest.
“There is some damage, it’s not super extensive, it’s certainly more prevalent in the orchards of my earlier growers. So, when I say we’re just trickling out we seem to just get some momentum going and then we’ve had a weather event where it either turned cool or we’ve actually had a little bit of rain.”
As of June 3rd, Washington growers has shipped just under one million boxes of cherries. Looking at the entire season, Thurlby anticipates this year’s crop will come in between 17-18 million boxes, which means there’s still a lot of fruit to pick over the next two plus months.
“The fruit I’ve seen so far, has been very impressive. We’ve been lucky. California had really good cherries this year, and the northwest seems to be following hand in hand with that, and the fruit that we’re shipping is big, has sugars, and it’s the kind of fruit that’s going to get consumers excited to go back and buy them again.”
Total sweet cherry production nationwide
According to numbers released by NASS, total sweet cherry production nationwide for 2020 is forecast at 334,000 tons, down 6% from 2019. In Washington and Oregon, severe cold snaps in February and mid-March had varying impacts across the region. The later blooming varieties were well behind the rest of the crop, leading to lower expected yields, especially in Washington.
Meanwhile in California, growers reported sufficient chill, despite an unusually warm winter. Cool weather in March extended the fruit growing season, which led to increased expected yields in the Golden State when compared with the previous season.
United States tart cherry total production for 2020 is forecast at 197 million pounds, down 25% from the 2019 production. In Michigan, the largest tart cherry producing State, an early-May frost damaged the crop throughout the State and most significantly in southwestern Michigan. In Wisconsin, growers reported some crop damage due to heavy winds and frost during blossom. In Washington, growers expressed some concern due to freezing temperatures.
Source: washingtonagnetwork.com
