This season's cherry harvest at McIntyre Fruit, in Perthshire, Scotland, has started two weeks early as a result of the very warm weather over the last month or so.
"The hot weather brought the fruit on a bit faster than we had anticipated," said Matthew McIntyre. "It has been a bit difficult organising people to arrive earlier at the farm. We are having a greater overlap than normal with the end of the English season. Prices are a bit lower than we would normally see, as there is still a lot of fruit on the domestic market, but there is demand from the continent, so we have started to export there."
© Nichola McGregor | FreshPlaza.com
The European market has sizably reduced volumes this season due to frosts in the spring. Washington and Canada, on the other hand, have had very large crops, but this doesn't have a huge effect on the UK market, as it is expensive to ship the fruit over.
"The hot weather has been good to a degree, but it did bring the fruit on faster than we had expected. It has not cooled down much, which is very unusual for Scotland; we have consistently had temperatures of over 20 degrees. We are seeing much bigger volumes than estimated, 25% in some areas and 10-15% in others. We are also still seeing big sizes, whereas in England, where it has been much hotter, the sizes are smaller."
© Nichola McGregor | FreshPlaza.com
The warm weather has meant that more irrigation has been needed, which does increase input costs.
"I expect the season to be shorter, or at least to end earlier, due to the heat. It will be dependent on later varieties, which are still 2-3 weeks away; the rest of the month is forecast to be much cooler and relieve pressure on the production curve."
© Nichola McGregor | FreshPlaza.com
In the new cherry orchard, there is an abundance of wild flowers, which are perfect for pollination. "We don't have the trees under plastic in the first year; this is a measure to reduce initial capital investment, and it also gives us a great opportunity to have biodiversity in the cropping area."
Last week, Scotland faced the high winds of storm Floris, but McIntyre's escaped any major damage, with just one tunnel being slightly damaged. This was particularly lucky as the tunnels all had to remain closed, as this is the time when the fruit is particularly sensitive to damage. There was a bit of damage to some of the younger trees out in the open, though.
Matthew has 24 hectares of cherries in full production and four more with new trees planted.
© Nichola McGregor | FreshPlaza.com
Matthew, his son David, and father Euan
"Getting pickers this season has not been a challenge so far, but it has been more difficult to get staff for the packing shed due to the visa restrictions. We will continue picking for another 3-4 weeks and selling for a week longer. We prefer to sell the fruit right away, but it does depend on the prices."
For more information:
Matthew McIntyre
McIntyre Fruit Ltd
Tel: +44(0)7713106784
[email protected]
www.mcintyrefruit.co.uk
