The 2022 cherry harvest might be the latest running on record
Unloading cherries at Cascade Cherry Growers. Photo Credit: Tom Peterson
By Cole Goodwin
Cherry Harvest has been a difficult thing to forecast this year due to cold and wet weather which resulted in later harvest dates. But according to Northwest Cherry Growers we are now one third of the way through cherry harvest.
So far, Northwest Cherry Growers has been shipping for 34 days and has produced 5,710,937 twenty-pound boxes of cherries.
A graph from Northwest Cherry Growers.
Photo Credit: Tom Peterson
Northwest Cherry Growers previously projected that July would produce 7.5 million boxes of cherries, which leaves another 5 million boxes yet to ship this month. However shipment volumes have been down during the first eleven days of July due to late harvest dates for many orchards, resulting in a daily average output that is 44% below the 5-year average.
A graph from Northwest Cherry Growers.
Early on in the season many compared the 2011 crop to the 2022 crop. However Northwest Cherry Growers has pointed out that the 2011 crop had a more accelerated course and was already shipping 10% ahead of the 2022 curve.
However, the cherry harvest is still predicted to surpass the 2008 harvest.
The newest estimate for the Northwest Cherry crop is around 12.4 million boxes.
If this chart proves accurate, 2022 will be the latest running Norwest cherry crop on record.
A graph from Northwest Cherry Growers.
“It’s been really late and it’s been really slow going,” said Ashley Thompson, OSU Extension Horticulturist. “The heat we had a couple days ago kind of helped it be less spread out but it feels slow this year.”
“I’ve seen some cracking and splitting from the rain on some particular varieties, but it doesn’t seem like we have any big drastic problems this year. For me having a background in pathology the most interesting thing is that a cool wet rain can bring out viral diseases in trees so I’ve sent a few things to the lab that I’ve never seen before. But overall it’s been a really positive year, just a slower crop than normal,” said Thompson.
Unloading cherries at Cascade Cherry Growers. Photo Credit: Tom Peterson
“There’s not been a lot of pest and disease issues but there’s a lot of uneven ripening on the trees, so that’s been kind of a hassle this year. But in spite of everything it’s been a better than expected year. I haven’t heard too many complaints from farmers.”
As far as how late harvest will go or how much orchardists will make on the open market … Thompson says it’s hard to tell.
“Harvest in Dufur will go on for a couple more weeks, but when harvest will be done is a hard question to answer at this point,” said Thompson.“The market is expected to be pretty good this year, but we really don’t know how much people are going to make until October.”
“There’s just a different vibe this year, it’s slow but it’s steady and people seem relatively happy,” said Thompson.
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