“At Grower Direct Marketing, our emphasis lies in close collaboration with growers and direct distribution to our worldwide clientele,” said Jim Hanson, managing director of the Stockton, CA-based company. “Our objective is to cater to both growers and buyers with unwavering honesty and integrity, consistently delivering top-notch products while enriching our clients’ enterprises daily.”“The timing looks to be more normal, especially when you compare it to the 2023 season, where we were 2-3 weeks late,” Hanson said. “We had a record crop, of which roughly 7 million boxes came post-Memorial Day, which is bad timing for California relative to where the Northwest crop falls. So, with us looking to start this year around April 23-24, we’ll see the bulk of our crop come off in May, and we should be cleaning up by the first week of June.”
That means the peak season will be where it should be for optimal success. Grower Direct Marketing works with pretty much all cherry varieties, with everything from the Royal variety on the early end of the season, to the Hazels, Lynns, and Tiogas to a lesser extent.
“California’s largest single variety is now the Coral, so we’re heavily into Corals now,” Hanson said. “Bing is still king, but it has its things against it; one is it doesn’t set a consistent crop year to year and its timing is another.”
The weather has been cooperative this year, and there has been adequate dormancy this year, which is important to the cherry crop.
“We had a good bloom period and the cherries were able to set, the ones we can see anyway—we have seen the early Corals and they look good,” Hanson said. “It’s not a record crop like last year, but it’s a very promotable crop. The early guesses are anywhere from 7.5 to 9.5-million for the state. Last year, we were pushing 11 million.”
Timing is the real key to pricing, he added, so hitting the peak window is important, and he expects this year’s cherry pricing to be very stable.
“Last year, wasn’t a great situation for us, or for the Northwest, it was just unfortunate timing,” Hanson said. “We don’t see that this year and pricing should be historically normal.”
Consumers are drawn to California cherries because it’s the first springtime fruit to hit the store shelves, and it offers something fresh in the produce section.“Plus, it’s a treat,” Hanson said. “Cherries are not on the shelf for 12 months, so people want them when they can get them.”
