Bob Mast, president of Columbia Marketing International, said he expects the company will supply approximately 11 percent of cherry volume coming from the Pacific Northwest this season. The company is headquartered in Wenatchee, WA.

Statewide trends show that 2013 cherry volume will return to more typical levels following the 2012 record-setting crop. He said crop reductions in the early districts are expected to be between 30 to 40 percent.

Return bloom, he went on to say, was lower. “We probably cropped some trees too heavily last year,” he said.

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.

Despite spates of cool, wet weather, which can give the Northwest cherry industry reason to suffer a little heartburn, Rainier Fruit Co. has moved into June and the beginning of its 2013 cherry season on a positive note. “We’ve had a fairly warm spring, which led to good crop development,” Director of Marketing Suzanne Wolter told The Produce News. “In the earliest blooming districts, we did get some frost damage, and a few areas experienced less-than-stellar pollination conditions, which could result in somewhat lighter supplies right out of the gate.

Brad Fowler, president and owner of Hood River Cherry Co., said conditions are ripe for a quality cherry season in Oregon’s Hood River Valley. “In my little part of the world, production will be up 20 percent this year,” he said, noting that his orchards somehow missed the climatic drama experienced by other growers in the Pacific Northwest.

“The first half of the pollination season was rainy, so pollination wasn’t good in some areas. Warm weather was conducive to bee pollination in the second half of the season,” he said.

Ron Everts, fieldman for Borton & Sons Inc. in Yakima, WA, said the company’s Northwest cherry volume will track with statewide predictions for a reduced crop during 2013. “The overall cherry production will be down due to two factors: damage from frost in certain areas and the wind during bloom time causing poor pollination,” he told The Produce News. “The Northwest Cherry meeting that took place on May 15 stated they are projecting at this time that the overall cherry crop will be down about 20 percent.”

Shuman Produce in Reidsville, GA, is giving away the ultimate grilling tool, its ‘RealSweet Sportula’ – a multi-use heavy duty spatula – in a spring promotion.

Here, Shuman spokesman The Fat Man, of Chef and The Fatman fame, shows off the sportula – and lets people know how to get their own.