CALIFORNIA and WASHINGTON- California’s cherry season is winding down for most, and the industry is looking to the Pacific Northwest for its abundant cherry harvest to carry us into the summer. With the demand for cherries continuing to rise, Grower Direct’s Director of Marketing, Daniel Moznett, joins me to discuss the outlook as the company moves toward Washington.
“Volume from California will continue to be tight but steady as we wrap up the California Bing deal this week. The optical sorting technology that is used at OG Packing for our Grower Direct program has produced excellent results,” Daniel tells me. “Moving ahead, we are looking forward to a promising season from our Northwest program at Western Sweet Cherry Group.”
Grower Direct’s orchards are in the Tri-Cities, Pasco, and Yakima areas and will be good producers for the company this season Grower Direct will start with Chelan and move on through Tieton, Bing, Skeena, Lapin, and Sweetheart varieties for red cherries. The companies Rainier program features the Early Robin, the most popular of Grower Direct’s whites, followed by Rainiers.
I asked Daniel how volumes look compared to last year and he tells me that the company will start with good volume beginning this weekend and will climb steadily through July.
Grower Direct has been shipping, and working closely, with its packinghouse OG Packing in California, Western Sweet Cherry Group in Washington and its growers to bring the best possible fruit to the market, Daniel notes.
“We had seen a higher than normal amount of weather events through the season and it had been a struggle to consistently deliver the volume,” Daniel says. “But as I mentioned before, with the advancement in our Cherry Vision 2 Technology, we were able to deliver a consistent pack with very low rate of issues upon arrival at retail.”
Grower Direct has been working very closely with retailers across the country and importers around the world to manage the California season and the upcoming Northwest season.
“We are positioned well to rebound through the Washington season,” he adds.
With Washington cherries upon us, stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we keep you updated on market, weather, and crop conditions.
