Historically, fruit production developed near villages, cities, and small towns, but in the 19th century, the development of railways and roads allowed many crops to be grown in areas where the climate, soil, etc., were more suitable, and fresh fruit could be rapidly transported to consumers. More recently, the availability of air transport has further expanded the availability of fruit from distant producers. Cherries are no exception to this pattern.
Cherries are undoubtedly the most desired among stone fruits. They are easy to eat and, unlike other stone fruits, their size allows for flexibility in choosing how many fruits to consume at one time.
The brevity of the season is further complicated by the fact that it's difficult to get a good harvest without very specific climatic conditions, namely, adequate winter cold that does not kill the fruit buds (as can happen in some continental climates) and the absence of rainfall near the ripening of the fruit, which can cause splitting.
In New Zealand, Central Otago meets most of the conditions, followed by Marlborough and perhaps Hawkes Bay and Canterbury. However, other important factors to consider are the distance from international and national markets and the possibility of extending the harvest season.
The threat of global warming has now disrupted the apple market, with its prediction of extreme weather conditions, which (simplistically) could just be unseasonal rains in the middle of the cherry harvest.
Rain during the harvest period can be easily overcome using rain shelters (such as tunnel greenhouses or specially developed water-repellent nets to direct rainwater between rows).
The use of rain shelters for cherry production was developed in New Zealand by Professor Richard Rowe from Lincoln University towards the end of the last century. At that time, dwarf rootstocks for cherries were not available in New Zealand.
The use of dwarf rootstocks (such as Gisel 3) and the UFO (Upright Fruiting Offshoots) training system would be a valid conversion from the larger trees resulting from the use of “Colt” rootstock, with the rising harvest costs and conventional pruning systems that have poor potential for robotic harvesting.
If the trees need to be protected by some type of “rain covers,” the issue of needing to cultivate trees in a district with low summer rainfall becomes questionable.
Image 1: UFO System. Source: Forest Lodge Orchard, Cromwell.
At this moment, it is clearly impossible to produce cherries without adequate winter chilling. This means that any area north of Auckland and south of Auckland, near the coast up to Taranaki and Gisborne, is unlikely to be suitable. Naturally, if low-chill varieties of cherries were developed (as has happened for peaches and nectarines), the picture would change quickly. Note: Currently, there are two low-chill varieties!
A significant advance could be the introduction of hydroponic cultivation. Although hydroponic cultivation was first used commercially almost 100 years ago by PAN Am Airlines on Wake Island in the Pacific, the technology didn't really “take off” until the 1970s.
Today, hydroponics is the accepted system for growing most vegetables and berries in greenhouses in the most advanced horticultural countries and is strongly promoted in many developing countries due to higher yields and superior product quality, as well as better water and nutrient efficiency.
Clearly, if population is the key factor, from the domestic market's point of view, 50% of New Zealanders live north of Taupo! This suggests that the area should be somewhere in the North Island. Similarly, from the export perspective, proximity to a major international airport is crucial.
Auckland offers direct flights with wide-body aircraft to the Middle East, China, Japan, and Singapore, as well as North America and Singapore, while Christchurch has limited capacity. However, another important consideration must be the presence of infrastructure and local cultivation knowledge. Te Puke owes its position in kiwi cultivation to being a knowledge base and to the support resources that exist for growers, etc.
Could there be a demand for year-round cherries in New Zealand? Your guess is as good as mine. The question is: is it possible to produce cherries and make them available at a reasonable price any day of the year? It might be “a bridge too far” at the moment, but it might be worth an examination.
It is now widely proven that, by using dwarf cherry rootstocks and the UFO (Upright Fruiting Offshoots) training system, it is possible to grow high density cherries and achieve early harvests in the field. The system could be easily transferred to a plant factory with a hydroponic system, and the rows would be even closer together since there would be no need for tractors, etc.
With the environmental control offered by a plant factory, freshly sprouted plants could produce the base shoot and the upright fruiting laterals in two growth cycles and, after a short dormancy, it should be possible to have a full fruit production.
How long each growth cycle (and the dormancy period) should last is anyone’s guess, but there seems to be no reason why the growth stages couldn’t last only 3 months and the dormancy period just 1 month. Time will tell. I suspect it takes 12 months to produce the first harvest, but after that, it might be possible to produce a crop every 3-4 months.
Image 2: Dr. Bruce Christie (on the right) and Alan Bissett.
Renewal pruning of fruiting branches would be carried out so that all the fruiting spurs are young, and the harvesting would eventually be robotized.
It’s worth noting that it’s possible to produce two crops of apples per year in the tropical area of Batu, Indonesia, so producing three or even four crops per year of cherries in a plant factory (capable of providing optimal light, temperature, and CO2 levels) should be relatively simple.
There should be no issues with pests and diseases, and pollination would be carried out by bumblebees.
Research conducted in the United States has demonstrated the advantages of the UFO system (Upright Fruiting Offshoots) over the bush and central leader systems, and the huge advantage of using Gisela 3 compared to other dwarf cherry rootstocks, in terms of early cropping and higher yields.
It might also offer the opportunity to extend the harvest season by using heated greenhouses with geothermal energy near Rotorua to produce early fruits, after receiving sufficient winter chilling, or late-maturing fruits could become an additional crop to Ohakune carrots.
It might also be more effective to grow cherries closer to the local market (for instance, half of New Zealand’s population lives north of Taupo), and closer to a major international airport, to reduce internal transportation costs, provided that production costs are similar to those in other more climatically suitable districts.
Read the full article: Grower2grower
Images: Grower2grower
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