Cherry Outlook Pt 2

Cherry Outlook Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. Northwest cherry growers are getting a bit of a late start thanks to the extended winter weather, but moving forward they'll stay busy.

And, Northwest Cherry Growers president BJ Thurlby says the crop looks good ...

THURLBY ... "It's not as large a crop as we have the capacity to probably grow, but the good news is what we see when we see these moderate sized crops. We see big fruit, fruit that's full of sugars and the kind of fruit that we like to deliver and that consumers like to buy, you know, more than once. So, that's the good news so far."

Thurlby says they should be able to keep up the pace ...

THURLBY ... "Once we get going, it's going to come fast and we're going to have a full season that will run from June 10th all the way probably through August, but I think we'll crank up and probably have 5 or 6 million boxes before the Fourth of July and then, from there, another 15-million boxes from July through August."

With regards to the slower than expected trade talks with China, Thurlby says it's not unexpected ...

THURLBY ... "For us, nothing has really changed since last year. I mean, the situation kind of played out last year and from our perspective, we simply just, we move on to other markets. We'll put more money into Taiwan, into Korea, into Canada and then just move on."

He says if it happens, that's great ...

THURLBY ... "Now I don't think anything really changes for us. We've kind of looked at China as a market we would love to have and hoped to have, but at the same time we've assumed that it wasn't going to be there this year so we've just kind of played it out that way and moved our chips around the board in a different fashion."

Thurlby says let's keep our fingers crossed that the weather holds, but for now things look good for Northwest cherries.

####

BL: Welcome back to another "Fruit Bites" brought to you by Valent U.S.A. Joining us again is Valent's Allison Walston. And this week Allison, we're talking about new trends in the organic market?

AW: With organic produce, heirloom or heritage varieties are popular. Whether it is flavor, biodiversity or dietary, these charming heirloom crops are grown on a smaller scale and provide uniqueness to the consumer and a bit of a taste revolution.

BL: Speaking of revolution, I read that people are actually hunting for old apple varieties thought to be lost.

AW: yes, these apple trees have survived and since faded into the background. They provide a chapter of history through taste. But even though they've survived our weather conditions, did they fade into the background because commercially, growers couldn't make them productive?

BL: and that's where the potential lies within the organic market

AW: It's a nice story anyway. Plus maybe one day, those survival traits might help parent the next generation of apples.

BL: Who knows, thanks Allison. Join us again next time for Fruit Bites, brought to you by Valent. Until then, I'm Bob Larson.

https://genomics.wsu.edu/lost-apples-and-heritage-apples-of-the-palouse/

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/29/us/apple-varieties-pacific-northwest.html?_r=0

Previous ReportCherry Outlook Pt 1
Next ReportCongressional Wine Caucus