Missoula News

Farmers Optimistic

Flathead Cherry Harvest Expected On Time, Healthy

By Keriann Lynch, Flathead Beacon, 6-14-09

File photo by Lido Vizzutti, Flathead Beacon

After two seasons of extremes – one a bumper crop, the other late and small – it looks like Flathead Lake cherry growers might enjoy a “normal” year, producing about 3 million pounds of cherries worth more than $4 million.

Dale Nelson, president of the Flathead Lake Cherry Growers Cooperative, said growers were nervous after “a brutally cold winter,” but reports of tree damage have been limited.

“Thankfully, our trees are a little more cold hearty because of the climate here,” he said. “We’re looking for a little bigger than average crop this year.”

At this point in the season, the blooms are gone and the shuck, the layer surrounding the fruit, has just fallen off. Growers are nervously awaiting the “June drop,” when cherries that weren’t pollinated in the spring fall off.

In some years, that can take as much as 10 percent of the crop.

“Word getting in from Washington was that they’re having a fairly big drop,” Nelson said. “Hopefully, that’s not the case here.”

This year’s harvest is expected to start around July 22, Nelson said, likely beginning in Polson and progressing north up the lake’s east shore. The cooperative’s cherries are shipped to Monson Fruit Co. in Washington for packing, then are distributed and marketed nationally by Domex Inc. of Yakima, Wash.

The Flathead crop, Nelson said, is generally one of the latest to come on. And the later the better, he said, because by then Washington’s cherries have come and gone, leaving shelves bare and customers ready.

In 2007, trees hung heavy with a 4 million-pound bumper crop, but last year’s harvest was half of that - somewhere around 2 million pounds. A cold, wet spring delayed the cherries, and midsummer rains split some of the crop wide open.

Growers, however, still benefited from both excellent fruit quality and a good market, taking advantage again of being the last producers in a commodity market.

“Our packing plant may go from 2 million boxes two weeks before us, and by the time we hit, they might be down to 500,000,” Nelson said. “It’s just a drastic difference.”

Threats, like rainwater and hail, still exist, though, at this point in the season.

Since rainwater is pure, almost distilled, and the juice in the fruit is sugared, the cherries suck in the rainwater. The process makes the fruit plump; but too much rainwater, and the skin splits.

During the harvest, Nelson said the cooperative will have two helicopters on standby. If there’s a rain shower, the helicopters will be dispatched when it’s done to blow the rain off the trees. They can dry 10 acres in 10 to 15 minutes.

“Ten years ago we were getting rained out because we didn’t have that,” Nelson said.

And, as for hail, well “we’ve just got to pray,” he added.

In addition to the recognizable roadside stands, the cooperative markets local cherries far and wide, with special promotions well beyond Montana’s borders. The group will continue programs with out-of-state grocery chains in Indiana and Ohio.

And after a trial run last year, the cooperative will again feature Flathead cherry displays in Wal-Mart stores throughout the state – an effort to brand the fruit as specifically Montanan.

Nelson said the cooperative is hoping to get Costco carriers to carry the Montana label as well.

“We’re trying to be marketing experts when we’re not farming,” he said.

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