Cherry bonanza no jubilee

This should have been the year BC cherry growers were waiting for, following freeze events that wiped out last year’s crop and the lingering impact of the heat dome of 2021.

“We had great growing conditions this summer,” says BC Fruit Growers Association executive director Adrian Arts.

Trees that produced no crop last year rebounded in spades, forcing many growers to thin this year, a rare practice in cherry production. But the efforts were partially offset by new plantings, which pushed the BC cherry crop to record-breaking volumes.

“Hands down, this has been the largest crop we have seen in the province,” Arts says.

BC’s largest cherry crop prior to this year was 2018, with nearly 27,000 tons harvested from 4,641 acres, according to Statistics Canada.  This year’s plantings totalled more than 7,000 acres.

The crop was so large that pickers couldn’t keep up.

“Labour was pushed to capacity,” says Arts. “I have heard anecdotally that anywhere from 10-15% of the crop was left on the trees because they just couldn’t pick it.”

Trade tensions also soured the outcome fro BC growers.

“With the US and China in a massive trade war, China slapped a 50% tariff on US cherries and suddenly they stopped going into the market,” Arts explained. “They sat and that blocks up all the marketing channels.”

Cherries are highly perishable and cannot spend much time in cold storage, and the export hurdles resulted in the diversion of fruit to lower-priced domestic markets.

Additionally, some retailers were happy to take margin on low-cost US cherries.

“Early in the season, growers did not receive even the cost of production for their fruit,” says Arts.