Cherry Times hosts the presentations displayed on Saturday 10 June in Palombara, Rome, during the National Cherry Symposium, a scientific and academic event at the service of farmers and lovers of the Sabina cherries.
The event took place within the framework of the 95th Historical Edition of the Sagra delle Cerase, the oldest in Europe of this crop, based on a centuries-old tradition, due to the Cerase del Papa variety, dating back to Honorius IV (around 1200).
The aim of the Symposium was to foster cherry production, drawing attention to a product of Italian excellence that can represent the crop of attraction and valorisation, taking stock of the latest developments in agrifood research, focusing on the Sabina area.
Another objective was to connect national and local administrations, public opinion, and the scientific and academic world with operators in the agri-food sector, who invest energy and time on the excellence and uniqueness to which cherries are an undisputed witness of flavour and beauty.
Here the Symposium programme in pdf (Italian).
Symposium reports (Italian):
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Post-harvest Production Varieties
18 Sep 2023
Manual harvesting of stalkless cherries reduces the time by 40-45% compared to manual harvesting of traditional cultivars; stalkless cherries are cultivars whose FRF value, when ripe, is 200-300 g compared to 450-900 for 'normal' cultivars.
05 Aug 2025
China’s cherry production is expected to hit 900K tons (+6%) in 2025/26, with record imports of 600K tons. Expanding acreage, new varieties and Chile’s dominance consolidate China’s status as the world’s leading and most influential cherry market for global trade.
05 Jan 2026
On 24 December, a local fruit grower explained that this year the trees were subjected to forced dormancy and heating earlier than usual, resulting in the cherries ripening about 10 days earlier than in previous years.
02 Jan 2026
Chile, the world’s top exporter of fresh cherries, is tackling the growing threat of Drosophila suzukii through an advanced strategy that includes the Sterile Insect Technique and a cross-border partnership with Argentina to safeguard fruit quality and global market access.
