WENATCHEE, WA - The industry is abuzz about the early cherry season this year, and like other growers, the early rains and hot weather have made for an unexpectedly erratic start to CMI’s crop. CMI, however, reports it foresees an acceleration in cherry harvesting and packing within the next ten days to two weeks.
According to Steve Castleman, Senior Vice President of S
ales for CMI, the 2015 cherry harvest has brought unexpected challenges for the company.
“We have a great crop in the orchards, but initially there was a bit of rain and some unexpected fruit damage due to record heat and high winds,” said Castleman. “This had the net effect of reducing pack outs for virtually every shipper in the Northwest. Here at CMI, we’ve been down from our early crop projections like everyone else.”
The company says it feels like it has been playing catch up ever since, with very strong cherry demand from both our export and domestic customers.
Castleman adds, “We’ve got beautiful fruit coming from some of our finest late Bing, Skeena and Sweetheart Red cherry orchards that are getting close to harvest. I think within 10 days, certainly by July 1, the supply situation will change dramatically for the better.”
Steve Lutz, Vice President of Marketing for CMI, says that the company has been, “like a runner in the starting blocks” waiting for the 2015 cherry volume to hit.
“Three of our four cherry warehouses have invested in new packing lines to upgrade their already sophisticated packing and sorting capabilities. Our warehouses have the machinery and capabilities, now we just need the fruit to roll in. We expect the peak to hit no later than in the next two weeks.”
CMI has developed a video to showcase the new packing line at Columbia Fruit Packers, one of the owners of CMI, which you can watch above.
