WENATCHEE, WA - Retailers, have your promotional calendars ready to fill. It's nearly cherry season for the U.S. Pacific Northwest. CMI Orchards is bringing a host of retail solutions and insights as we map out the spring and summer months. As Rochelle Bohm, Vice President of Marketing, tells me, there is plenty to look forward to.
“If all goes as planned, we expect a healthy-sized crop starting a few days earlier than normal due to warm spring weather pushing up the timing. As the season kicks off come late May or early June, we will be offering our retail partners Red and Rainier cherries, SkylarRae®, and Strawberry cherries—which, together, deliver the largest portfolio of specialty cherry varieties on the market,” Rochelle details. “SkylarRae cherries are unique in and of themselves because they’re the only cherry that has its own assigned PLU, making sales and volume data easy to track. They’re the sweetest cherry you’ll ever eat, with a unique flavor and firmness that makes them highly anticipated every season.”
The lineup promises to bring innovation on many fronts. Take the Strawberry cherries, which are ruby-red on the outside, freckled, and creamy white on the inside. With a subtle berry flavor, CMI Orchards describes Strawberry cherries as “a very berry cherry™.” This distinction makes them an exciting, show-stopping offering.
As retailers look to key marketing opportunities like Fourth of July promotions and other summer spotlights, CMI will be bringing a host of support to customers across North America.
“CMI Orchards will have several high-impact two-box shippers and pop-up displays with eye-catching graphics that can be utilized in many ways and areas throughout the store,” Rochelle reveals. “Our programs are very customizable and when paired with our omnichannel marketing support, deliver a winning formula for capturing the magic of the high-velocity cherry sales season.”
In addition, CMI Orchards has a multitude of ways that shoppers can buy cherries—clamshells, pouch bags, top seal (which reduces plastic by 30 percent), or loose—all with conventional and organic options.
New to this season’s excitement is the groundbreaking partnership aptly named The Soil Center. This amazing endeavor between CMI Orchards and Royal Family Farming, spearheaded by the Allred family—who are owners of Double Diamond Fruit (co-owners of CMI Orchards) and sole proprietors of Royal Family Farming—marks a significant step forward in regenerative agriculture.
“The Soil Center is committed to revolutionizing the ag sector with innovative soil health solutions and delivering optimal ingredients for soil health,” Rochelle describes. “At its core, it is an advanced waste-processing system that upcycles byproducts from orchards, row crops, dairy, and beef operations into high-quality soil amendments. One aspect of this project includes chipping removed trees from our orchards and using those wood chips to feed the largest worm farm in the world. The worms convert liquid waste from cattle operations and those wood chips into valuable worm castings, which are then used across our orchards and field crops.”
With innovation top of mind for CMI Orchards, benefits abound for the entire category—and most importantly, for retail partners.
