NW Cherry Challenges in 2023 Pt 1
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. If you were lucky enough to try any of last season’s NW cherries, you know that the quality was OUTSTANDING!
BUT NW Cherry Growers President BJ Thurlby says it was THE MOST frustrating year in his nearly 30 years in the industry, thanks to a lack of communications with California growers …
THURLBY … “You know when we started to pick around the 15th of June, California had around 3 or 4 million boxes on the floor still and was still picking, got behind because their fruit was, it was okay but they were shipping old fruit. You know, and they got behind and once it got to the market it was sitting on the shelves between $10.99 a pound to $5.99 a pound and it just didn’t move.”
And that, Thurlby says puts some buyers off …
THURLBY … “You know, there’s some portions of the United States right now that really believe they’re in a recession. Whether they are or not is another story, but the reality is some people think that and people have been kind of in a frugal mode.”
Especially, Thurlby says for a product like cherries …
THURLBY … “You know, cherries are an impulse item and part of the thing that pulls them through the system is they’re seasonal, exciting, something different, but if you’re a consumer and you can get grapes for a buck-99, you know, cherries have to be at least semi close to that.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on a frustrating growing season for NW cherry growers and the timing that cost everyone.
