Stemilt Growers expects its California cherry season to start toward the end of April, translating to promotable volumes leading into Memorial Day and through early June, says Brianna Shales, marketing director.
Shales said the Wenatchee, Wash.-based marketer is confident that it will deliver high-quality and great-size cherries from California.
“Cherries are one of the few seasonal items left in produce,” she said. “We work to partner with retailers to create a great cherry plan for them to merchandise promotions and take advantage of the peaks in the season. This year, we know promotions in the latter half of May and into early June are ideal for how the crop is timing at this moment.”
Cherry demand will exceed supply in the early part of the season because retailers will have pent up demand for cherries globally. Memorial Day promotions look promising, along with the next two weeks to follow, she said.
“This isn’t going to be a record crop from California, but a moderate to great crop that will not bear an extreme fruit load that would impact the tree’s ability to grow good-sized cherries,” Shales said.
Stemilt has the longest cherry season in the nation because it grows both in California and Washington state, she said.
Leading off
“We grow the season’s first taste of cherries in the unique region of San Joaquin Valley including Brentwood, Westley and Stockton/Lodi,” Shales said. “We grow low-chill varieties in places like Westley, which means they don’t need a lot of chill units to break dormancy in the spring. Royal hazel ripens in the late-April timing when most of the production is in the southern growing regions of the state [such as Bakersfield].”
Stemilt growers a big volume of coral variety cherries, she said.
“These are our top varieties that have high color, quality and yield,” Shales said. “All cherries from California are packed to World Famous quality standards as we monitor the best times to harvest cherries for freshness and explosive flavors. Stemilt’s California cherry line for rainier cherries moved from hand sorting to the latest [Unitec] optical packing line in 2022.”
Equipped with automated sorting and packing capabilities, the line has more than doubled its production of rainier cherries, Shales said.
“We are able to manage color and size better with six lanes and Vision 3 optics during the packing process,” she said. “Our new rainier cherry line has improved the quality of yellow cherries and has brought them into the export market which wasn’t possible before.”
Stemilt’s goal is to ship cherries within 24 to 48 hours from harvest to put the shelf life back into the hands of consumers, she said.
No supply gaps are anticipated, but that is subject to change with the weather, she said.
“We will have 5 River Islands cherries in early June and that will start transitioning us into Washington cherries,” Shales said. “While we don’t know the crop set at this point, it’s looking favorable and we’re looking forward to having cherries throughout Stemilt’s entire season.”
Package options
Random weight bags and clamshells will be the primary packaging for California cherries, Shales said.
“We offer our 5 River Islands cherry program to retailers who want to share uniquely grown sweet cherries with consumers. 5 River Islands cherries are grown in California’s Delta region where medium climates of warm days and cool nights are perfect for growing sweet cherries,” she said.
About 1,100 square miles link almost 60 islands and over 700 miles of waterways to form unique farming grounds, she said, adding that the region is where lapin cherry varieties thrive and develop sweet and tangy flavors.
“We choose the biggest and best cherries for Stemilt’s 5 River Islands pack that will excite with deep red color, and a crisp, sweet bite,” Shales said.
Stemilt has limited volumes of organic cherries from California, Shales said.
