Cherry Prospects Pt 1
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. Northwest Cherry Growers gathered in the Tri Cities recently for the annual Five State meeting to share the forecast for the upcoming cherry season.
President, BJ Thurlby says from early on, this crop has looked really good …
THURLBY … “You know, we came into the fall looking at trees and there was, I would say, as many buds as I’ve ever seen in my 28 years here in the industry. So, we were thinking, boy we’ve really got an opportunity for a big crop this year.”
Thurlby says they’re expecting a crop of 19.9 million 20 lb. boxes, and the recent warming trend will undoubtedly help ...
THURLBY … “The warm weather gives us cell division so the cherries size up, for the sugars to build up in the fruit, for the last 2-and-a-half, three weeks here have been absolutely perfect growing weather and I think we just have a really nice crop of fruit that has the potential to be super-high quality.”
And that, Thurlby says is what we expect …
THURLBY … “At the end of the day, if you want to pick out one single thing that really makes the biggest difference in the market and it’s when our cherries are, you know, up to the standards that the Northwest growers have always tried to hold, which is great fruit.”
Thurlby says he’s hearing great reports …
THURLBY … “The growers were telling me they were 25 to 30 days out still and they were already the size of a quarter. So, those are going to be some really nice sized cherries.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on this year’s cherry crop.
