Over the past two decades, there has been a significant increase in labour costs, with a rise of 244%. As a result, labour expenses currently constitute approximately 67% of the whole expenditure associated with cherry production. The preponderance of labour expenses is mostly allocated to the harvest phase, constituting over 50% of the overall expenditure.
The process of orchard intensification has been found to result in the early onset of fruit bearing, while also ensuring the production of fruit of good quality. In addition to the utilisation of dwarfing rootstocks, the selection of appropriate training systems holds considerable importance as it exerts a notable impact on the harvest efficiency.
Indeed, there is a growing interest in planar systems and Y-systems due to their ability to enhance canopy light interception and speed-up harvest practices. Currently, it appears that plants trained using the UFO (upright fruiting offshoots) method have the highest harvest rate (0.81 kg/min), followed by those trained using the KGB (Kym green bush) method (0.72 kg/min), while the classic open center method has the lowest rates (0.47 kg/min).
In addition, the crop load management is of utmost importance, commencing with the practise of bud thinning. To further optimize the efficiency of sweet cherry orchards, it is imperative to develop compact fruit walls that possess canopies capable of effectively capturing sunlight while also being suitable to mechanization. This will also make it possible to reduce the high production costs, which today are mainly related to the need for manual labour.
Source: I. Iglesias, Development of innovative high-density orchards aiming for an efficient and sustainable sweet cherry production, IX International Cherry Symposium http://2021.cherries.org.cn/replayEn.html
Melissa Venturi
University of Bologna (IT)
22 Jan 2025
Saigon Co.op is selling 100 tons of Chilean cherries at a promotional price of 199,000 VND/kg, 20-30% lower than the market price. On the first day of the launch, statistics showed that more than 20 tons of cherries were consumed.
20 Mar 2024
"We expect to harvest 1,000 tonnes in 2026," says Yigit Gokyigit, sales coordinator, "our annual harvest will increase to 1,800 tonnes by 2029. We expect larger sizes, such as 26+ and 28+, from our orchards."
16 Dec 2025
Una ricerca guidata dalla Washington State University propone un nuovo metodo scientifico per misurare la consistenza delle ciliegie, superando i limiti della compressione tradizionale. Obiettivo: offrire all’industria cerasicola strumenti tecnici e predittivi più efficaci.
16 Dec 2025
On December 5, the first Cherry Express shipment of the 2025/26 season arrived at Nansha Port: 8,000 tonnes of fresh Chilean cherries were distributed within two hours thanks to an optimized cold logistics chain. China officially enters peak cherry season.
