Cherry growers in the Northwest have always known that the best way to successfully navigate the cherry season, which lasts 3 months, is to produce excellent quality fruit from start to finish. This year they have outdone themselves, producing fruit that drives repeat purchases and that consumers eagerly await all summer long.
In 2024, our growers will deliver cherries that will leave consumers wanting more and more! Thanks to the perfect climate for production, we are seeing uniformly colored red and yellow cherries with a brix of 20% and above.
Over 80% of the shipped crop is sized 10.5 row (26mm+) or larger. We are currently shipping over 350,000 boxes per day, bringing the season's total to 3,110,730 boxes (equivalent to 20 pounds - up to June 19, 2024).
It is expected that shipments will exceed 400,000 boxes per day by early next week!
Image 1: comparison of daily shipments between the five-year average, the 2024 estimate, and the actual 2024 data.
Get your promotions ready: despite shipments being in line with pre-season estimates, most growers report that early varieties are yielding a bit less than hoped. The good news is that later varieties, such as Bing and Skeena, seem to have moderate or medium-sized crops on the trees.
As mentioned earlier, these lighter sets have led to excellent quality so far... and it should remain that way until the last cherry is shipped in mid-August!
Source: Northwest Cherries
Images: Northwest Cherries
21 Mar 2024
The stalk plays a crucial role. Understanding the mechanisms of water loss through the stalk can help develop strategies to minimise stalk dehydration and preserve the post-harvest quality of sweet cherry fruits.
22 Aug 2024
Modified Passive Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) is widely used during storage and transport after harvest. MAP allows an adequate moisture level to be maintained within the package, preventing dehydration of the fruit and stalks.
30 Oct 2024
"Most traditional cherries need a minimum of 800 hours of chilling, but our low-chilling varieties can produce fruit with less than half of those hours. This opens up cultivation opportunities in areas with milder winters."
30 Oct 2024
One of the restrictions imposed by the Chinese authorities concerns the packaging warehouse, which has to establish how to apply differentiated fruit handling throughout the process, from receipt to packaging and storage of the cherries.
