Okanagan cherry orchards sail through bitter cold winter
Last year’s early winter was actually a bonus for Okanagan cherry growers.
Snow started falling in early November but the really cold temperatures didn’t hit until later in December when it got below -20 Celsius for a number of days, which devastated valley grapevines.
READ MORE: Devastating grape freeze expected to hammer wineries in the Okanagan
“I think we got out of winter a little better (than grapes) because the gradual cooling to the really cold temperature helped the cherry trees acclimatize,” Sukhpaul Bal, president of the B.C. Cherry Association told iNFOnews.ca. “Once it did get colder they had time to get hardier.”
That has now been followed by a cool and, therefore, late spring.
“We don’t mind that too much,” Bal said. “We want to get as much separation as we can from the other cherry markets, Washington State being the biggest one. If we can have our crop later then it works out nicely.”
Two major new markets are emerging for cherry growers.
One is South Korea where a trial shipment was made last year and was well received.
“It’s a very strong cherry market,” Bal said. “It’s not one you have to introduce cherries to and get them familiar with it. They know what they want. They’re looking for high quality fruit which we know we can deliver so that’s the big news on the export side.”
The other big market is, actually, Canada.
“We’ve kind of overlooked our own country for many years because we didn’t have the volume,” Bal said. “The U.S. would be shipping up here and using Canada for their home market. What we’re gradually trying to do is recapture that market with fruit that, perhaps, growers aren’t willing to take the risk of shipping a long distance. It then gets into stores a lot quicker and there’s less chance that things can go wrong.”
Over the years the industry has focused on high paying foreign markets but, especially given supply chain issues in the last couple of years, those foreign sales are no longer as lucrative, especially if the fruit has to be flown instead of going by boat because of delays in ports.
Since BC cherries are later in the season than American fruit, the association has launched an advertising campaign in Eastern Canada to encourage customers to check on the source of their fruit and look for the Canadian flag.
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