Northwest cherry season ramping up
Northwest cherry season ramping up
Early rains and hot weather have made for an unexpectedly erratic start to the Northwest cherry season for many Washington shippers. That could change soon. CMI, a leading Northwest cherry grower and marketer, foresees an acceleration in cherry harvesting and packing within the next 10 days to two weeks.
According to Steve Castleman, senior vice president of sales for CMI, the 2015 cherry harvest has brought unexpected challenges. “We have a great crop in the orchards, but initially there was a bit of rain and some unexpected fruit damage due to record heat and high winds,” Castleman said in a press release. “This had the net effect of reducing pack outs for virtually every shipper in the Northwest. Here at CMI, we’ve been down from our early crop projections like everyone else. It feels like we’ve been playing catch up ever since with very strong cherry demand from both our export and domestic customers.
“We’ve got beautiful fruit coming from some of our finest late Bing, Skeena and Sweetheart Red cherry orchards that are getting close to harvest,” he said in the release. “I think within 10 days, certainly by July 1, the supply situation will change dramatically for the better.”
Steve Lutz, vice president of marketing for CMI, said the company has been “like a runner in the starting blocks” waiting for the 2015 cherry volume to hit.
“Three of our four cherry warehouses have invested in new packinglines to upgrade their already sophisticated packing and sorting capabilities,” Lutz said in the release. “Our warehouses have the machinery and capabilities, now we just need the fruit to roll in. We expect the peak to hit no later than in the next two weeks.”
