Northwest Cherry Crop Estimates Down This Year

Northwest Cherry Growers (NWCG) say this year’s five-state crop estimate indicates the sweet cherry crop is on pace to be down 4% from 2015 of 19 million boxes. The 2014 crop was 23 million, and the 2013 crop was 13.4 million boxes, respectively.

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Cherry representatives from the five Northwest states recently held their meeting to discuss the projected cherry crop. This year’s crop is estimated at around 18.4 million boxes. However, shipments are beginning earlier and earlier, this year in May.

“This year will mark the earliest start of the cherry season we’ve ever seen,” said Curtis Roy, a cherry grower based in Washington’s Yakima Valley in the Northwest Cherries report. “We’re expecting a great crop, hitting nearly 20 million boxes, and look forward to a very fruitful June and July this season.”

The report says there was a flash bloom throughout the Northwest, which NWCG says typically leads to consistent fruit size, sugar, and flavoring, in what they are calling a “vintage crop.” NWCG expects high volume in June and July, with few cherries being harvested into August this year.

“The preliminary reporting shows a May total of 651,427 (20 pound) boxes. Four years ago, we didn’t track any official shipments until June 7,” the NWCG says. “Five years ago, it was June 15 until we shipped a cherry. Now we’ve nearly doubled last year’s record of 362,141 boxes with only three additional days of shipping. The first recorded shipments this season were on the 20th of May.”

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