Thurlby: Northwest Cherry Crop Hit Hard By April Snow

We have a better idea how damaging mid-April’s snow storm was to the Northwest cherry crop. During their recent five-state meeting, Northwest Cherry Growers forecasted the 2022 crop at 13-14 million 20-pound boxes.

“There’s just not as many cherries out there, these growers have sustained some real hits, and the hope is that we have enough to harvest and we have enough to at least get out to the market to make some people happy over the 4^th of July," said B.J. Thurlby, president of Northwest Cherry Growers. "It looks like July is going to be a good month for cherries.  We’re thinking eight to nine million boxes which would be more closer to normal crop.”

B.J. Thurlby, president of Northwest Cherry Growers noted last months storm, which dumped up to 15” in some production areas came just weeks after bloom occurred and bees were pollinating. He added at this point, the expectation is for harvest to start around June 8^th or 9^th, but that could be pushed back. And he believes growers were harvest three to four million boxes in June.

While those 2022 numbers are disappointing, he noted some perspective is needed.

“We’re going to have lot of cherries, just fewer than we’ve had the last few years.  But comparatively over the past 20, it’s still a decent crop.”

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