After the worst ever drought on record, New South Wales cherry growers are seeing a bumper harvest of the best quantity and quality since 2016. In the Blue Mountains town of Bilpin, cherry growers whose trees survived last year’s horrendous fires -that raged for 79 days- have enjoyed near perfect growing conditions this year.
Cherry growers Andrew Lee was out picking cherries last week on his orchard surrounded by blackened trees along the Bells Line of Rd. While Lee managed to save his 300 cherry trees from the inferno, his wilted cherries were decimated by starved wildlife that managed to escape the flames.
“I fought the fire myself and kept the flames at bay five metres from the cherry trees, but I could not save the cherries from fruit from bats and birds,” he told adelaidenow.com.au. “This year we have had more rain, there are about 40 per cent more cherries, and the fruit is very sweet and delicious.”
Cherries, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries will be about 10 per cent cheaper this year thanks to abundant supply, according to Coles. However, experts have predicted the price of apples, grapes, stone fruit and pears to increase by 25 per cent because COVID-19 has kept away foreign pickers.
