This week, the cherry harvest began at Royal Ridge Fruits in Washington. Incentive and piece-rate payment systems are in place for all crops in the United States.
Incredible - the PET-Tiger electronic token on the phone, or visual token on the eye, or printed token - the latest innovation for your workforce management needs! The PET electronic token system provides employees working on piece-rate with a tangible and real-time record of their piece count, revolutionizing traditional methods like physical tokens or punch cards.
From humble beginnings in 1962, with a few acres of prairie in central Washington, the Dorsing family has grown to become one of the largest cherry growers in the western United States. Today, Dorsing Farms continues to thrive in Washington's fertile Columbia Basin. Under third-generation family management, the farm has expanded to over 2,500 acres of conventional and certified organic sweet cherries, blueberries, raspberries, tree fruits, and other crops.
Agricultural labor contractors, growers, and traders share real-time data, enabling operations to maximize labor efficiency. PET-Tiger allows personalized payment calculations for individual workers and teams with multiple payment systems, improving employee management and incentives.
Field and office managers receive special real-time mapping notifications on production by variety and packaging style, as well as efficiency reports for harvesting and packing. The versatility of PET-Tiger allows customization and localization for any crop, geographical area, payroll system, wage order, legal compliance, operational policies, piece-rate, and bonus calculations.
Per McCord, WSU's cherry breeder, explained that it is basically a scaled-down version of what one sees in a commercial fruit packing warehouse. The line will bring overall efficiency to the university's sorting efforts.
Low temperatures will prolong ovule viability and stigma receptivity, yet also slow pollen germination and pollen tube growth. Research shows that apple and sweet cherry pollen germination can occur with temperatures as low as 41 F, depending on genotype.
Research in Moldova on sweet cherry shows Thin spindle improves yield, fruit quality and canopy management in high-density orchards on Gisela 6, while Improved thin spindle boosts large premium fruit, uniformity and commercial value for modern intensive cherry production.
Chilean cherries 2025/26 face a more saturated China market, flat FOB prices and rising pressure on quality, timing and destinations. Diversification toward the United States and other markets is becoming crucial to protect Chile’s profitability and fruit exports now.