With fewer air travellers, BC fruit heading overseas this summer face reduced cargo capacity and higher freight rates. While carriers such as Air Canada have designated cargo services, many perishable products travel in the holds of regularly scheduled passenger jets. Those flights have been curtailed thanks as borders closed to fight COVID-19. Reduced air capacity …
cherry
Cherries face the pits
BC cherry growers face a second straight year of record losses thanks to severe cold in January and a late spring frost. The two cold weather events have resulted in the 2020 harvest on track to be down more than 40% from normal levels. BC’s Production Insurance program has received 296 claims for yield loss out …
Cold air hits cherries
Okanagan cherry growers are looking at a reduced crop this year after a series of cold events damaged buds. Up to 60% of buds were damaged when cold air swept into the South Okanagan on April 2. “I saw a low of -8°C in Summerland, and South Okanagan orchards were close to green tip,” says …
Cherry growers discuss trade
Trade and research were the topics at the annual meeting of the BC Cherry Association in Kelowna on March 3. The industry has grown substantially in the last 15 years, thanks to the opening of export markets. China, Japan and California are now major buyers of BC cherries. “But we need to continue to diversify …
Cherry growers see record crop losses in 2019
LAKE COUNTRY – BC’s cherry industry often refers to 2016 as the Vietnam year because of the sheer number of helicopters used to dry the crop. That harvest, at 17,495 tons, was more than 1,200 tons short of the record 2015 harvest, even though plantings had increased by 150 acres. The loss had a farmgate …
Cherry exports get boost
Rains have delivered significant damage to the BC cherry crop this summer, limiting the volume of fruit heading to market. But this week brought $241,000 worth of federal support for international marketing efforts under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership’s AgriMarketing Program. The funding, announced by federal justice minister David Lametti during a visit to Kelowna on …