The Ag Information Network report on today's fruit growers. Sweet cherry production in the United States for this year is expected to reach 355,000 tons, a slight increase from last year.
Starting from the south, Lance Honig of USDA says things are looking quite good.
"Looking at California specifically, it's still a very abundant harvest. Last season was nearly a record, so even though California is down, the harvest is still very plentiful. In Washington, the harvest is slightly below average but still of good size."
Honig notes that the estimates are accompanied by a clarification. "The total national figure of 355,000 tons, technically one could say it's increased by three-tenths of a percentage point compared to last year's production. But excluding Michigan, which wasn't counted in last year's total, there's a 5.9% decline compared to last year for the remaining three states we measured, across both seasons."
So, Honig says overall it's not bad. "And this is largely because we've seen a smaller crop, or expect a smaller crop, both in California and Washington, which are by far the dominant sweet cherry producers here in the United States."
Regarding consumers, Honig continues, "So, with a slight decline nationally, we still expect a medium to above-average harvest size. Therefore, availability shouldn't be a problem this year for sweet cherries."
Washington and Oregon together are estimated at 228,000 tons, with a decrease of about 3.4% from last year... but the quality this year is exceptional.
Source: AG Info
Image: Fresh Collective
20 Sep 2024
A recent study conducted Ukraine focused on the influence that wood age has on key sweet cherry productivity parameters. The results showed that wood age is one of the main factors determining productivity: three-year-old wood sections showed the highest flower density.
19 Feb 2025
Loss of firmness, color variation, stem desiccation, and mold growth are the main issues that compromise sweet cherry quality during storage and transport. Additionally, harvesting and the conditions under which it takes place have a significant impact on quality.
20 Aug 2026
U.S. tart cherry production is forecast at 91 million pounds in 2026, down 36% year on year. Spring freezes hit Michigan and Utah, cutting the crop and increasing pressure on inventories, processors, product availability and grower prices across the domestic market now.
20 Aug 2026
A study on sweet cherry dormancy combines plant physiology, metabolomics and NDVI/FAPAR vegetation indices from Sentinel and Landsat imagery, highlighting scalable tools to monitor canopy senescence, physiological activity and orchard phenology across the seasonal cycle.
