Wohlford: Cherry harvesting window will be compressed
Wohlford: Cherry harvesting window will be compressed
Dan Wohlford, national marketing representative for Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers, said the harvesting window for the 2015 Northwest cherry crop will be compressed. “A warm spring brought on cherry blooms about a month earlier than the average for the last 15 years,” he told The Produce News. “However, May weather patterns have adjusted the start date to a little closer to normal, but still much earlier than previous years. The warm spring also brought trees to bloom at the same time across all growing regions. This will mean a ‘compressed’ harvest window. Volume will be down from last year, but not out of the average range.”
He said news from the field points to a nice cherry crop. “The crop is showing great quality, and fruit is sizing up nicely,” he stated. “The first fruit from our early orchards will be smaller size. However, bigger fruit will quickly become more prevalent after the first few days of the shipping season.”
Even with reductions in volume when compared to 2014, Wohlford said supplies will be ample to satisfy customer needs. “We are looking for our shipping to begin the first week of June, and with the harvest being compressed, this year we anticipate an end to cherry shipping the end of July,” he noted.
Oneonta, a global supplier of fresh cherries, is excited about recent facilities improvements. “Our Wenatchee facility is a 100 percent optical sorting and packingline,” Wohlford said. “Another Unitec line with Vision II technology is going to provide an exceptional piece of fruit for our customers.”
He was asked what drives summertime cherry sales for the company. “Cherries are very much a promotion-driven crop,” he replied. “The window of availability is relatively short so the winning strategy is for retailers to promote often and take advantage of holiday promotions when you can.”
