Cherry season countdown running at Oneonta Starr Ranch
Cherry season countdown running at Oneonta Starr Ranch
Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers, headquartered in Wenatchee, WA, is counting down the days until its first shipments of Northwest cherries move into the pipeline. “Other than some cool days that hurt pollination in some areas, the weather has been really good,” said Marketing Director Scott Marboe. The heat wave in early May helped spur growth.
Oneonta projects marketing 2 million packages of cherries this season. “[This is] about the same as last year in total packouts,” Marboe commented.
The company continues to focus on increased production annually. “Emphasis has been on Rainiers as well as replacing or planting new acreage of red varieties,” he said. “Our dark sweet production is still 85 percent of our overall production, and the balance is made up in Rainiers.
“We have really stepped up our Rainier plantings over the past few years and are expecting about a 20 to 30 percent growth in production in that category,” Marboe said. “We should have really great volume on Rainiers for National Rainier Day July 11.”
The marketplace will begin receiving its first shipments of Oneonta cherries in early June with volume ramping up for Fourth of July ads.
Marboe said new style pouch bags are increasingly popular with some retailers. This season, Oneonta will roll out its new “CherrysnaQ” bags and cartons.
“We’ll have our merchandisers available, and we’re running a number of in-store display contests at retail stores across the country and in overseas markets as well,” he said.
