Cherries

Northwest Cherry Growers Forecast High Quality and Early Volumes

Fri, 15 May 2026 21:37:47 GMT

Washington State Fruit Commission President Eric Patrick says that there’s no clearer sign to the start of summer than when it’s Northwest cherry season. Being that cherries are such a limited-run item in stores, he says consumers say, “Wow! Summer’s here, I need to get these cherries.”

While California’s cherry season looks to wrap up early, it’s going to be a good handoff to the Northwest cherry season, which looks to be starting a little ahead of schedule, but not by too much.

While it’s early and marketers say things could change, the season currently appears to have set up good promotable volume for the entire season.

“Recent rain events in California have continued to reduce the crop, and we’re now expecting their season to wrap earlier than originally projected,” says Catherine Gipe-Stewart, director of marketing for Superfresh Growers. “We stay closely aligned with our retail partners and monitor movement out of California in real time, which allows us to adjust timing and promotions as needed to ensure a smooth transition.”

Gipe-Stewart says the season wrapping up early in the state should help create a seamless transition and start to the Northwest season.

“That timing is lining up well with the earlier finish in California, which should help minimize overlap and create a clean handoff at retail,” she says.

Northwest Cherry Crop Estimate and Season Outlook

Jon Bailey, who leads the cherry category for Oppy, says early frosts impacted early orchards and late frost impacted later orchards, but “the midseason districts look very strong, so we expect our best continuity and overall quality through the center of the season and project to match last year’s volume.”

Gipe-Stewart says while early projections could evolve as the crop develops, she says retailers can expect “an early, high-quality Northwest cherry crop, with timing, volume and sizing still taking shape.”

“We’re continuing to monitor weather and growing conditions closely, as those will ultimately influence final yield and packouts,” she adds.

Chuck Sinks, president of sales and marketing for Honeybear Brands, says while this spring has created some variability, fruit quality is trending in the right direction for firmness, sugar and overall eating experience.

“We expect volume to build in waves rather than all at once,” he says.

Patrick says harvest could come between three and seven days early, adding that he expects some growers will begin harvest around Memorial Day with good volumes picking up around June 10. Patrick says that 30% of this year’s crop is destined for the export market.

“We’re putting that crop estimate somewhere in the 18 [million] to 20 million boxes,” he says. “A nice average size crop for us.”

Mac Riggan, vice president of sales and business development for Chelan Fresh, says while there’s a bit of growing to go until harvest, things are aligning well.

“If things are fairly normal, I’m expecting a lot of really good-sized fruit for export and domestic markets,” Riggan says. “I think the eating quality is going to be really good out of Washington.”

While volume comes off at one time in some seasons, Riggan says this season will be more in line with weekly demand, which is perfect for retailers and consumers alike. Barring any major changes, he says, the season will begin in late May and run through the end of August.

“That’s a 90-plus-day sales window, which is really nice. I think that the pipeline will be full of fresh cherries all the time, just picked, packed and shipped,” he says. “I’m expecting a very orderly sales season out of the Washington cherry industry this year, which is good for everybody — the shippers, the retailers, the consumers. It’s just a win-win all around.”

Having the cherry season wrap up early in California should help create a seamless transition and start to the Northwest season, says Catherine Gipe-Stewart, director of marketing for Superfresh Growers.

(Photo courtesy of Superfresh Growers)

Retail Merchandising Strategies and Consumer Value

If some of the crop tends to skew on the larger size, that’s a strong storytelling advantage for retailers, Sinks says.

“Size equals value in the shopper’s mind; it’s visible, experiential and justifies the price,” he explains. “Position cherries as a seasonal indulgence: a limited-time, peak-summer treat that delivers quality enjoyment at home. Messaging like ‘big, bold and worth it’ or ‘summer’s premium bite’ resonates well.”

Retailers can also deploy strong visuals and callouts to help consumers understand the value of those larger cherries, in that they’re trading up in experience, not just paying more, Sinks says.

“Ultimately, the retail community wants to win the price point, and that can be achieved with a smaller size at high value too,” he says. “With Washington supply potentially tighter, smaller cherries might signal good value to a consumer.”

Though the season will likely start a little early, Riggan says it’s important that retailers have good communication with a sales desk.

“Make sure you’re getting accurate information. Good news or bad news, just make sure it’s accurate so that you can plan,” he says. “I’m anticipating good volume for promotable volumes for Fourth of July ads this year. It should be good for retailers.”

Patrick says with the crop expected this year, it’s critical that retailers think promotions and even look to back-to-back ads and promotions during the heart of the season to drive sales. He also says studies show larger displays for cherries help drive sales.

“Cherries obviously have a longer shelf life when you put them in the cooler, but then they’re a little more hidden,” he says. “When you put them front and center and allow consumers to see them, those sales usually go up.”

(Photo courtesy of Stemilt Growers)

Driving Sales Through Health Benefits and Impulse Purchases

Gipe-Stewart says the team at Superfresh Growers looked to prune for sizing, which she says means retailers can expect a strong Super Cherry premium program.

“From a retail perspective, this creates an opportunity to segment and merchandise strategically,” she says. “Larger fruit can be positioned as a true premium, an ‘affordable luxury’ moment for consumers, through strong display, clear sizing communication and elevated presentation. At the same time, smaller sizes still deliver on flavor and eating experience and can be leveraged for value-driven promotions to keep cherries accessible and drive volume.”

Brianna Shales, marketing director for Stemilt Growers, says the impulse factor isn’t limited to the physical aisle.

“Shoppers need to know they are in season through visibility, whether they are shopping in-store through a front-of-department display or online via featured items,” she says. “Ultimately, quality and the eating experience drive repeat purchases.”

Bailey, too, says those larger cherries help drive the “wow” factor at the store and can help retailers “position cherries as a special, treat-yourself item that still feels justified, even when budgets are tight.”

While smaller pack sizes might help consumers manage out-of-pocket costs, “they’re also more expensive to pack and typically require significantly higher unit movement to drive meaningful volume,” he says.

With shoppers making fewer trips, Bailey says it’s a good opportunity for retailers to lean into larger purchases per trip with bigger packs and “strong displays that encourage shoppers to stock up when they do visit.”

And with the expected steady volume throughout the season, Riggan says it’s important that retailers use displays to help drive sales.

“You want to have a good display where customers are hit with it, because cherries are a very impulse item,” he says. “They’re not year-round like so many other items. Give cherries the space and the respect that I think they command because of the dollars that they can generate for retailers.”

While consumers might be a little more budget-conscious going into this year’s cherry season, Gipe-Stewart says retailers should work with growers and shippers on promotional fob opportunities.

“That helps maintain category momentum, supports movement across all size profiles and ultimately benefits the full supply chain, including growers who are often operating at or below cost in challenging seasons,” she says. “When retailers strike the balance between positioning the top end while still creating value entry points, it keeps cherries relevant, exciting and attainable for a broad range of shoppers.”

Gipe-Stewart also says health messaging can help drive sales as consumers look to better-for-you options.

“Cherries deliver about 3 grams of fiber per 1-cup serving, including both insoluble fiber, which supports digestion and gut movement, and soluble fiber, which can help with cholesterol and blood sugar regulation,” she says. “Cherries are also one of the few foods that naturally contain melatonin, which supports sleep. Those are powerful, easy-to-understand benefits that give retailers a strong foundation for messaging in-store and digitally.”

Patrick also points to a recent study out of Texas A&M University that shows anthocyanins and other natural compounds in dark sweet cherries could reduce tumor growth, metastasis and therapy resistance in triple-negative breast cancer.

“We’re just seeing more and more consumers trying to step away from processed foods, and of course, fresh produce is one of the first places they go to, and we want everyone to focus on cherries as much as much as they can,” he says.

This blend of wellness and convenient pack sizes provides a unique opening for stores to market cherries as a multifunctional staple rather than just a seasonal treat, Gipe-Stewart says.

“When retailers combine clear health messaging with thoughtful pack size strategy, it allows cherries to function as both an everyday wellness item and an affordable indulgence, driving both accessibility and overall category growth.”

Sinks also suggests retailers approach displays with select items to drive sales.

“Retailers should pair cherries with complementary, high-frequency items — berries, yogurt, bagged salads, grilling items — to build a full summer meal or snacking occasion,” he says.

Sinks encourages retailers to use urgency as a strength, as cherries are one of the most time-sensitive produce categories.

“Retailers should start building awareness just ahead of first promotable volume, then go all-in as soon as supply and sizing align — likely shortly after Memorial Day this year,” he says. “A strong start to the Northwest season is critical to establish momentum and drive destination trips. Lean into ‘now is the moment’ messaging early and often, because once peak passes, the opportunity narrows quickly.”

And Gipe-Stewart says retailers should tap into the fear of missing out in digital marketing.

“From a strategy standpoint, digital marketing should shift into high gear in early to mid June as volume builds, then stay consistent through the full season,” she says. “Positioning cherries as a limited-time, peak-summer item — while reinforcing quality, freshness and health benefits — helps create that sense of urgency and drives destination trips throughout the entire June to August window.”

But, Sinks says, it all comes down to the fruit consumers take home.

“None of this works without delivering on quality and eating experience,” he says. “In a value-conscious environment, cherries have to look great and eat even better. When shoppers feel confident they’re getting a consistently high-quality product, it drives repeat purchases. If the eating experience misses, those repeat trips become fewer and further between — something retailers can’t afford in today’s environment.”

Promotions, Promotions, Promotions

And don’t neglect promotions, Riggan says. Retailers should be confident in the quality and sizing of this year’s crop to be able to promote cherries in a way that will bring new customers to the category who will come back again and again in the season, he adds, noting that cherries are a basket-driver that justifies the floor space.

“Cherries are a powerful enough item that people will come to a store for them, and they’ll usually fill the rest of their basket with stuff,” he says. “Maybe [retailers] lean in a little bit and have some aggressive ads and then drive some new customers to the category; maybe make up your money next week, get your sales velocity up and try to drive as much volume through as you can because cherries are limited.”

Patrick says Northwest cherries will partner with Washington State University on a national consumer contest to guess the number of cherries on a tree in professor Matt Whiting’s research orchards. He says this is a promotion Northwest cherries used to do in the past, and he’s excited to bring it back.

“The winner will receive a box of cherries and there’s going to be a whole bunch of different prizes as well,” he says.

Sinks says Honeybear Brands will help celebrate America’s milestone with its own unique packaging.

“We are also packing in a patriotic-themed pack that celebrates the 250th birthday of the USA for a limited time,” he says. “That will provide a nice complement for July 4 celebrations.”

Gipe-Stewart says eye-catching packaging is a great way to catch the shopper’s eye in the produce department and build on those impulse buys. She says Superfresh Growers recently refreshed its cherry pouch bags with revamped Superfresh-branded bags and its Super Cherry program that features bold colors, graphics and visual cues to grab shoppers’ attention.

“For the Superfresh line, the new bags bring a more modern, approachable feel, while helping clearly differentiate between dark sweet and rainier cherries at the shelf,” she says. “For the premium Super Cherry line, the refreshed packaging leans heavily into the program’s core differentiators: jumbo sizing, flavor and a more elevated consumer experience. The bold ‘Jumbo Size & Flavor!’ messaging was designed to quickly communicate value and reinforce the premium nature of the fruit.”

Shales points to Stemilt’s ultrapremium cherry program, Kyle’s Pick, as a way to position cherries to highlight not only flavor but also quality.

“This is not just a fruit-size program, but [it also] looks at data from multiple points to select the very best cherries for this pack,” she says. “There is even an R&D signoff via taste test to ensure the flavor matches our Ultra Premium promise. We’ve seen success selling this alongside other cherry packages and encourage retailers to bring it in as a premium SKU like they would in berries or grapes to drive sales with specific shopper groups.”

(Photo courtesy of Oppy)

Maximizing the 90-Day Window Beyond the Holiday

Shales says it’s important to remember that “every week of cherry sales matters” and echoes Riggan’s advice for retailers to remain in constant communication with cherry suppliers to adjust as the market changes.

“The Fourth of July holiday is critical for building momentum in cherry sales as the industry reaches its peak post-holiday, yet June is a volatile time for cherry volume and pricing, and that can cause trade-offs in retail pricing that will get that momentum started,” she says. “Make the most of the holiday so that cherry sales are in ‘repeat’ mode as the peak arrives. Quality drives consumer purchases and should be a focus all season long.”

Riggan points to National Rainier Cherry Day on June 28 as a way to help promote the red-blushed cherry variety, as well as the Fourth of July, though retailers should also think about the post-July 4 window.

“We’re about midway [on July 4], so there’s a whole month and a half, almost two months of cherry sales opportunity after July 4,” he says. “There is a good volume of cherries generally through the 20th of August for sure. Again, communicate with your sales desk that they’re buying from and make sure they get all the opportunities.”

Gipe-Stewart says one of Superfresh Growers’ largest cherry orchards doesn’t begin to harvest until mid-July and continues picking into mid-August or later.

“When retailers step off promotions too early, it can slow category momentum right when the crop is hitting its stride,” she says. “The opportunity is to stay committed, maintaining strong displays, consistent ad support and digital presence throughout July and into August. Retailers who do this not only drive better movement but also maximize the full value of the Northwest season for both themselves and their grower partners.”

Sinks says a mistake retailers can make is waiting till close to the July 4 holiday to promote cherries.

“There’s often a tendency to wait for ‘perfect’ volume or cost, but in an early, dynamic season, that hesitation can mean missing the most impactful selling window,” he says.

Peak isn’t just the biggest volume, Sinks says, but it’s when quality, size and consumer excitement align.

“Retailers who lean in early, adjust pricing aggressively and promote consistently throughout the peak window will capture more dollars, drive velocity and build stronger category momentum,” he says.

California’s Cherry Season Shifts into High Gear Weeks Ahead of Schedule

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 21:36:03 GMT

The record-setting heat dome in the West in March has pushed California’s cherry season to its earliest start, says Chris Zanobini, executive director of the California Cherry Board.

Zanobini says the season should begin in late April and end the third week of May.

“We’re expecting we won’t have any production after Memorial Day,” he says. “Really, the cherry season is going to be the last week of April through the third and a half week of May.”

He says the record heat, which was about 20°F to 30°F above average, created a compressed bloom throughout the Golden State.

“Bakersfield all the way up to essentially Sacramento bloomed at the same time,” he says. “It had a very quick bloom, so pretty much everything is going to be harvesting at the same time.”

Zanobini says this early start will likely challenge the state’s cherry logistics.

“It’s going to put a lot of pressure on the packing facilities,” he says.

And he says this early cherry season means the state’s growers will miss out on the post-Memorial Day sales. But there is a bright spot with the season ending before June, he points out.

“The upside to being early is we won’t have any overlap with Northwest,” he says.

As for whether consumers are thinking “cherries” in early April, he says the warm temperatures have consumers thinking summer.

“We were high 80s last week and then, rain on March 31, and April 1 and April 2 we’ll be in the 80s again,” he says. “So, consumers in California were prepared with the weather.”

But he says it’s not just preparing consumers for an early season; it’s also preparing retailers who buy on a calendar basis.

“I think the real challenge there is to make sure that they get that message that we need to move things up several weeks from what we typically do,” he says. “Because we’re Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, and that’ll be the bulk of the volume.”

And while this year, Memorial Day will mark the end of harvest for California cherry growers, he says in a typical season it’s the sweet spot for typically the bulk of the cherries coming out of the Golden State. And while there won’t be production after Memorial Day, depending on how the season goes, Zanobini says he suspects the state will still ship some cherries in that first week of June.

“When we’re talking about the crop, it’s much earlier than normal,” he says. “The majority of our production is in May, between May 5 and Memorial Day. We will continue to ship probably into the first week of June.”

As for now, California Cherries and the state’s growers are working with retailers on promotions, merchandising and bigger displays to get a jump on the volume coming early.

“Getting bigger displays and a higher return on square foot will help maybe drive some of the retail patterns,” he says.

And it’s also working with the export market, too, to think about cherries early. Zanobini says Canada is a big market as well as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, Mexico and more.

“That first part of May is when we really look for activity,” he says.

And while the season may be early, and there’s a few more weeks till the start of harvest, Zanobini says there is a really great bright spot that retailers and consumers can look forward to.

“The quality is looking exceptional,” he says. “We don’t actually set a crop number, but it looks like we will have a good crop on the trees and that potentially will size very nicely.”

Superfresh Growers Adds EFI Certification to Cherry Operations

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 11:34:47 GMT

Superfresh Growers has expanded its Equitable Food Initiative certification, which builds on its certified apple and pear acreage and now covers the majority of the company’s cherry acreage.

The company says it plans additional apple, pear, blueberry and cherry acreage certification over the next two years to extend EFI standards across the company’s full range of operations.

The expansion reflects a multiyear commitment to making EFI the operating standard across Superfresh Growers’ farms and production facilities, with a particular emphasis on apples and blueberries in the next phase, the company says.

“We’ve always tried to support the well-being of teams across the company and run strong operations, but EFI gives us a structure to keep improving and a way to measure if we’re actually getting better,” says Derek Tweedy, vice president of operations for Superfresh Growers. “It helps us listen to our teams, identify issues earlier and make practical changes that improve safety, culture and day-to-day work. When our teams are engaged and feel heard, the whole operation runs better.”

Superfresh Growers says it was among the early adopters of EFI when the program first launched and has continued expanding its participation as the program has grown.

Through EFI training, the company has implemented several employee-led improvements across both orchard and warehouse operations.

Recent additional improvements focused on Superfresh production facilities, including enhanced lighting in work areas and reflective safety vests for forklift operators. Superfresh Growers says that while some improvements are large in scope, others are simple solutions that come directly from employees doing the work every day. The EFI process encourages communication and problem-solving across all levels of the organization, creating a culture where employees feel ownership and responsibility in improving their workplace.

“EFI has changed the ‘that’s how we do it’ mentality to an ‘I have the power to make change’ mentality,” says Melissa Gomez, HR generalist and EFI coordinator for Superfresh Growers. “The biggest change we’ve seen is the level of ownership from our teams. Employees are speaking up, identifying issues and helping solve problems. That level of engagement is what makes this program successful.”

Beyond Flavor: Why Economic Sustainability is a Priority for New Orchards

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 23:00:58 GMT

There’s been a longtime push in the specialty crop industry to offer newer varieties with better genetics. This is no more evident than in apples, where Honeycrisp paved the way for a different eating experience and went from possible breeding project reject to farmers market darling to arguably the most widely known modern apple variety.

The challenge with a variety like Honeycrisp is that it is a difficult variety to grow, store and pack, says Rob Blakey, research and development director with Stemilt Growers.

“It’s great for the consumer, great for the retailer, but we need to match that eating experience with efficiencies in the orchards and in the pack shed,” Blakey says. “Otherwise, it doesn’t pencil. And we’re talking about sustainability; a variety has to be economically sustainable.”

While early pricing compensated for Honeycrisp’s poor efficiency, a saturated market has caused prices to collapse, and the variety isn’t as sustainable for the grower as it once was.

Setting a New Gold Standard for Variety Efficiency

Blakey’s focus at Stemilt is to evaluate new cherry, pear and apple varieties that meet modern-day consumer demands while also being something sustainable for growers, packers and shippers.

It’s a process with an extremely long view, and it all starts at Stemilt with twice-yearly meetings to examine the variety mix currently in orchards.

“We look at market performance and our orchard mix by variety, organic and conventional,” Blakey says. “What we look at is, are we in line with what we’re selling? Because we want to grow what we can sell, so we are aligning that and having direction in that way.”

Mapping the Long View of the Orchard Cycle

Blakey says the team at Stemilt then examines each commodity — apples, pears and cherries — and looks at harvest windows on each ranch. The team also studies where each orchard is in its 20-year cycle.

“As a variety is sunsetting, what’s coming in? When are we taking that orchard out? What are we replacing it with?” he says.

From there, Blakey works backward from determining what goes in where and when. That includes determining what type of rootstocks will be needed when and what variety will be grafted to the rootstock, as well as making sure there’s enough budwood to grow those trees. Then there is thinking about what scaling some of those new varieties might look like in five to six years.

For example, Blakey says he’s ordered rootstocks in the nursery to plant in 2028 with the hope that those trees will begin cropping in 2032.

Stemilt also evaluates new varieties. Blakey says that thanks to a dialed-in evaluation process, Stemilt can launch a variety in under 15 years, which is roughly half as long as it used to take.

He says a variety like Cosmic Crisp is the model for new varieties. It’s easy to grow, easy to store, easy to pack, and consumers love it.

“That’s our bar,” he says. “If it’s not delivering on that type of efficiency, it’s not going to compete. … If it’s not beating Cosmic or it’s a unique color or bringing something completely different, it won’t make it.”

For apples, Blakey says this means looking for varieties that fit a specific demand or window. For Aura apples, he says Stemilt specifically sought out a premium yellow apple.

“We launched that from cross to launch in 11 years,” he says.

Currently, Stemilt evaluates about 50 apple varieties from around the world and looks to see how those varieties grow if they have commercial potential from the orchard to packout, Blakey says.

“What we also learned from some of the new varieties that didn’t make it: They can eat good, they can store good, but they’re so delicate we can’t pack them,” he says. “We are evaluating all the critical steps, because we don’t want to be putting in money — putting in capital and growing a variety — only to find out at that stage, once we’ve put $20 million in that it doesn’t pack so well. We’d rather learn the lessons early and get rid of stuff as quickly as you can.”

And there have been many great-eating varieties in the trials that did not make it in that final step, he says. While all varieties have unique challenges, he says it’s a balance to find out whether a “quirk” is something a grower or packer-shipper could live with.

Though many growers want a proprietary apple variety, Blakey says these next-generation varieties have to be primed to succeed in a crowded category.

“This has to stand on its own as a viable product, and it costs more, but it’s a lot cheaper than a failed variety,” he says.

cherries

(Photo: Nailia Schwarz, Adobe Stock)

Flattening the Peak for a Better Cherry Season

Blakey says cherry evaluation is slightly less complicated than for apples, as there isn’t a variety attachment to cherries. It’s just a dark sweet cherry or a light-colored, rainier-type of cherry.

But the life cycle of cherry evaluations is much longer, he says, adding that he currently trials about 55 varieties throughout the world.

“I planted stuff in 2018, and I’m going to see a crop this year,” Blakey says. “It’s just a long, long cycle to get cherries.”

And for cherry trials, Blakey says it’s about seasonality. Instead of a peak, Stemilt wants to flatten the curve.

“How do we have the best varieties at each timing in each growing district to deliver that superior eating quality and have a crop and size and deliver a return to the grower?” he says. “There’s plenty of good-eating cherries that just don’t yield enough.”

Blakey evaluates aspects such as timing, rootstock, pollination, storage and shipping.

“It’s all dialed in, so when we launch, we can launch with confidence as well,” he says. “We’re always looking to go early. We’re trying to build out the early side, get a better eating experience on the early side.”

Blakey says he works with breeding programs to source early varieties as well as going as late as possible into the cherry season. This evaluation includes genetics, altitude, latitude and aspect, he explains.

While he says Stemilt has maximized altitude and aspect, genetics is where he sees the potential to improve cherry season.

“There’s new material coming out all the time that can add weeks to our program,” he says.

There’s also concern with cherry cracking and pitting, so those are also considerations for evaluation.

Blakey says a bonus with cherry evaluations is those can be sold; it doesn’t have to have a specific branding and variety around it as consumers seek out a large, firm and flavorful cherry.

He and the Stemilt team look at the current variety mix to see if there are opportunities or gaps for new varieties.

Bringing in new globally developed cherry varieties is its own challenge, Blakey notes. The budwood goes into government quarantine and evaluation to ensure the plant material is clean.

“Some varieties have taken 10 years to get out of quarantine because they couldn’t clean the material up,” he says. “It’s roughly two years, though.”

Then the nursery will take that budwood to grow a few test trees from which to pull budwood. Blakey says good paperwork is the key to keeping up with the evaluations in quarantine and in the field trials.

Stemilt Pears.png

(Photo courtesy of Stemilt Growers)

Moving Past the Old Model for Modern Pears

There’s an old adage that says, “Plant pears for your heirs.” And when it comes to pear breeding cycles, it’s a rather long cycle.

Pears have a juvenile period from seedling to cropping that lasts six years. The Happi pear originally was bred in 1988, Blakey points out. However, he says the pear category is ripe for innovation.

“There’s a lot of exciting pair genetics coming, just people haven’t been incentivized,” he says. “Pear growers are pretty conservative, because it just takes so long. In the old models, it would take six years before they got their first crop, 10 years before they started hitting peak production. And that one orchard was supposed to be there for 60 years.”

Blakey says a focus for him is on genetics and growing practices more in line with the future. Happi pear, for example, crops in the third year and hits peak production in the fifth or sixth year. He says that’s, in part, due to its precocious nature and its fire blight and pear psylla tolerance, which allow for more high-density plantings.

“We’re not trying to grow these big, old, steep leader trees anymore,” Blakey says. “We grow it like an apple: more trees per acre, earlier production. We get into full production earlier, which we’re paying that capital off a whole lot quicker.”

Unlike cherries and apples, Blakey says he evaluates far fewer new pear varieties, so he’s looking for the best of the best of new cultivars, as well as new and improved rootstocks that are cold-sensitive — a crucial trait. As he hopes to shorten that growth window, an orchard that could last for 60 or 100 years could recover from a once-in-50-year cold event, but that risk is higher with newer high-density plantings.

“If we’re growing an orchard for 20 years and those extreme colds are not happening as frequently and we’re growing in warmer districts, we can start looking at dwarfing rootstocks for pears,” he says.

And as with other commodities, new pear varieties need to perform well in storage and packing along with being easier to grow. Pear ripening is a significant factor in Blakey’s evaluation of new cultivars.

“Pears are more complicated,” he says. “They have to ripen, or you get a nonripening pear that’s crunchy to eat out of hand. So, how do we ripen it? It’s a big part of why we like Happi, because it ripens slowly and it doesn’t turn to mush. So, [those are] just more aspects that we have to look at.”

Future of Research and Development

As Blakey looks ahead, he says all of this R&D will help drive efficiency in the supply chain.

“How do we grow it better, we pick it better, we store it better, we pack it better?” he says. “Just with the shrinking margins, we have to be better at every single step without sacrificing an improved flavor experience.”

Blakey sees technology playing a key role in the future of new variety development.

“What excites me is that we have technology — storing technology and genetics — that we can deliver on that superior eating quality for longer in the year,” he says. “We’re not getting tired galas. We’re not getting tired Honeycrisp. We have technology to stretch the great-eating-quality window.”

CMI Orchards Recognized for Sustainability Efforts

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 22:28:12 GMT

Wenatchee, Wash.-based CMI Orchards says it has been named a 2026 SEAL Sustainability Award winner in two categories, earning a Sustainability Innovation recognition for its Planet Positive program and a Sustainable Products honor for its carbon-negative apples, pears and cherries.

CMI says the Sustainability, Environmental Achievement and Leadership Business Awards recognize 50 of the world’s most sustainable companies for environmental initiatives that demonstrate innovation, measurable impact and long-term commitment across industries and geographies. The company adds that these dual awards underscore its global leadership in driving regenerative, climate‑positive tree fruit production and advancing sustainability.

CMI says the SEAL Awards recognize its Planet Positive program, which integrates carbon-negative growing practices, regenerative soil health, waste upcycling and transparent environmental reporting into the company’s orchard systems. The program is designed to benefit more than the environment, providing tangible benefits for growers, retail partners and consumers seeking food produced with integrity and accountability.

“At its core, Planet Positive reflects our belief that farming should leave the land better than we found it,” says Bob Mast, president of CMI. “By cultivating carbon negative orchards, regenerating soil, producing nutrient-rich fruit, upcycling waste and operating with transparency and trust, we’re helping move the fresh produce industry forward while giving families confidence in the food they bring home.”

CMI was also recognized with a SEAL Sustainable Product Award for producing carbon-negative apples, pears and cherries with its tree fruit that offsets and surpasses its on-farm emissions footprint. The Soil Center, a facility that operates a closed-loop system that converts orchard waste into regenerative soil amendments, supports CMI’s carbon-negative efforts.

“This recognition highlights meaningful progress in regenerative agriculture and offers consumers fruit that fully offsets its growing emissions,” says Rose Vejvoda, sustainability manager for CMI. “Between 2022 and 2025, The Soil Center project generated more than 700,000 carbon credits by storing carbon in the soil, where it delivers lasting environmental value. We remain committed to expanding these practices, increasing sequestration and strengthening sustainability across our supply chain.”

How Honeybear’s Analytics Helps Retailers Maximize Category Management

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 19:45:04 GMT

Honeybear Brands , a grower, marketer and developer of premium conventional and organic apples, pears and cherries, says its Honeybear Insights Team (H.I.T.) helps retailers optimize assortment, pricing and promotions with its category intelligence.

Chuck Sinks, president of sales and marketing at Honeybear Brands, says this data helps get new varieties into retailers as well as helps retailers plan for more space for other established varieties.

“We don’t skew it towards Honeybear,” he says. “If there’s a variety out there that we don’t grow that really sells well, we’ll tell them that. We’re not biased in how we run our numbers.”

As part of the data, the Honeybear Insights Team evaluates category performance, shopper behavior and pricing strategies to better help retailers be positioned to meet consumer demand.

As an example, Sinks says a meeting with an East Coast retailer highlighted the retailer’s need to move more New York apples. Sinks says the data helped the retailer increase shelf space for New York varieties and cut back on some Washington varieties to help give those New-York-grown apples a spotlight through the season.

Sinks says this helps build trust with these retailers.

“They know that if we’re making recommendations that won’t really help our business, they know they can trust us when we’re telling them things that will help our business,” he says.

Sinks also says this data and insights go beyond apples and pears.

“With the subscriptions that we have and the data we have, we’re able to look at a lot of different categories,” he says. “It’s not just apples and pears. We can look at a lot of different categories and with that, we can make all sorts of recommendations.”

Sinks says these insights are extremely valuable for time-pressed produce managers.

“We’re here to be a full business partner,” he says. “In the category, sometimes some of these retailers don’t really have access to it or don’t study the numbers and go from history and when that history has changed over the years, it can impact their sales.”

New Washington Fruit Growers PLU Sticker Highlights Sustainability, Health Benefits

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 17:29:00 GMT

Washington Fruit Growers has debuted a new PLU sticker designed to connect shoppers to the story and values behind its fruits.

The company says the sticker, in the shape of the Liberty Bell, pays tribute to its long-standing logo, which is a symbol of its roots and commitment to quality.

Family-owned and led by third and fourth generations, the company says its refreshed design helps promote its ongoing focus on quality and transparency.

“This update connects our past and future in a meaningful way,” says Tommy Hanses, CEO of Washington Fruit Growers. “We’re proud to offer not only premium-quality fruit but also a simple way for shoppers to see the care and responsibility behind everything we grow.”

The updated sticker features a QR code that gives consumers instant access to information about:

The health benefits of apples, pears and cherries.
Washington Fruit’s organic program, sustainability efforts and food safety initiatives.
Its dedication to quality.

Washington Fruit Growers says its new PLU stickers have been introduced to its conventional and organic apples hitting produce departments this season.

“As more consumers — especially younger generations — want to know where their food comes from and how it’s grown, we saw an opportunity to make that information easily accessible,” Hanses says. “By simply scanning the QR code, shoppers can learn about the health benefits of our fruit, the sustainable practices we use and the steps we take to ensure quality and safety every step of the way.”

Fruit Exports from Chile Going Strong into Winter

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:24:07 GMT

“Chile is a powerhouse in global fruit exports.” So says the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.

“Chile is recognized as one of the world’s leading fruit exporters, ranking fifth globally with exports exceeding $8.2 billion,” reads a recent FAS report . It goes on to name fresh cherries, blueberries and table grapes among the country’s standout products. And the U.S. consumes a good deal of those products.

The U.S. is Chile’s second-largest destination after China for all exported goods, according to the World Trade Organization . Fresh fruit and fruit-derived products top its agricultural exports by value. Stone fruit — especially cherries, but also apricots, plums and peaches — occupied the most valuable line item in that category, representing roughly 18% of the value share of its agricultural exports, in 2022.

Chile also represents an important piece of the puzzle that is getting U.S. consumers fresh fruit all year round.

“Chile continues to invest in the U.S. market and is one of the largest suppliers of fresh fruit to the U.S. during the winter months,” says Joe Klick, associate vice president of product management for Naturipe.

Chile’s growing climate is ideal for winter fruit, he adds, and its steady investment in fruit quality and logistics has helped make year-round fresh fruit possible.

Of course, Chile isn’t the only Central or South American country to target the U.S. market and its love of tropical fruit and demand for fruit all year . Colombia seeks to drive U.S. demand for its avocados, for instance, and Peru recently set a new all-time record for its mango exports to the U.S.

“Peru’s growth in both volume and quality has raised the bar across the board,” says Klick, speaking about blueberries. “Chile responded by dialing up its own game. You’re seeing more focus on premium fruit and proprietary varieties that deliver standout flavor and consistency. It’s all part of staying competitive and keeping those berries at their best.”

Getting fresh fruit from Chile — a trip that can take over 4,800 miles by sea from the closest seaports or 4,100 miles by air from the main airports — can be a challenge, however. Klick says the country is rising to the occasion with the competition sparking innovation.

“We’re seeing smarter, faster shipping routes and exciting advancements in genetics that extend shelf life and deliver better flavor,” he adds. “Plus, Chile’s timing is great as its fruit lands just as the import season wraps and U.S. crops start up. It keeps the momentum (and the berries) rolling year-round.”

Building Blueberry Demand

Speaking of those blueberries, Klick says Chile has been keeping U.S. consumers stocked in winter for decades.

“Chile actually helped pioneer the winter blueberry market here in the U.S.,” he adds. “They got started back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, then really took off between 2004 and 2008.”

The USDA’s Economic Research Service calls blueberries the second-most economically important berry behind strawberries. And it’s one that has grown in popularity. Compared to 1980, when the per-capita availability (a stand-in for consumption) of fresh blueberries stood at not even a fifth of a pound, in 2023 it was over 2.6 pounds.

That growing demand has to be supplied from somewhere. In 2023, the U.S. imported 558.62 million pounds of fresh blueberries according to USDA. Imports from Chile represented roughly 16% of total U.S. blueberry imports that year.

The U.S. has been the top market for Chilean fresh and frozen blueberries , receiving more than half of the Chilean export volume annually in recent years. Fresh Chilean blueberries are imported into the U.S. from September through April, with volumes peaking in January and February. In the completed 2024-25 market year, the U.S. imported 87.28 million pounds of fresh blueberries (cultivated and wild) from Chile.

Klick says that most of Chile’s blueberry fields, which are located in the north-south middle of the coastal country, have Mediterranean climates.

“Cool winters, dry summers, and low disease pressure are basically perfect growing conditions,” he says. “Combine that with Chile’s top-tier export systems and cold chain logistics, and you get fresh, flavorful berries.”

He adds that Naturipe sees Chile as a key partner in supplying year-round blueberries and projects good things for Chile’s peak blueberry season this year.

“Come January and February, shoppers can expect plenty of top-notch Chilean blueberries ready to enjoy,” Klick says.

Table Grape Competition and Oversupply is a Challenge

Agricultural Economics

(Graphic courtesy of USDA)

Fresh table grapes are another area where Chilean fruit exports to the U.S. shine.

The U.S. is the main export market for the Southern Hemisphere’s table grapes. According to ERS, U.S. imports of table grapes from May 2024 through April 2025 exceeded 2 billion pounds. Almost all (97%) of that volume came from Chile, Peru and Mexico.

Chile has historically been the primary source for the U.S.’s imported table grapes by volume, though Peru has become a key source of competition to Chile for U.S. table grape import market share.

“Table grape production in Chile has been faced with tight margins, due in part to export competition from neighboring Peru putting downward pressure on prices,” read the July Fruit and Tree Nuts Outlook by ERS.

Frutas de Chile reports that the country’s total global exports are down almost 7% year-over-year, despite increases in the U.S. The reason for this decrease is “The acceleration of the varietal replacement process, where new varieties are gaining ground but have not yet fully replaced older, phased-out varieties,” the group explains. It estimates that new grape varieties are expected to represent 71% of total Chilean table grape exports this season, up from 67% last season.

However, there might be fewer grapes going to the U.S. in the near future.

“Shipments to Latin America are expected to increase by 14%, while shipments to Asia and North America are projected to decrease by 18% and 9%, respectively,” the group says, adding that it “will be running a robust consumer and trade campaign throughout the season.”

Indeed, the recently formed Global Grape Group , of which Frutas de Chile is a member together with Peruvian and Mexican representatives, has the goal to grow U.S. table grape demand to address the current mismatch between supply and demand.

“In the last eight years, we have seen a 40% increase in the supply of Southern Hemisphere grapes to its main market, the U.S., while demand has only increased by 3% during the same period,” said Ignacio Caballero, executive director of Frutas de Chile’s Table Grape Committee, at the Second International Table Grape Congress held in August. He added that it is crucial for the entire industry, not just Chile, to increase table grape demand.

Record-Setting Export Volumes Projected for Cherries

Discussion of Chilean fruit exports wouldn’t be complete without cherries. The FAS even called cherries “the jewel of Chilean fruits.”

“In the southern hemisphere, Chile accounts for 96% of cherry exports, reinforcing its global leadership in this market,” says Frutas de Chile, adding that the Chilean Cherry Committee projects total exports of to reach 131 million boxes during the 2025-26 season.

The FAS estimates that volume as 670,000 metric tons , or 1.48 billion pounds, a record for the country if realized, assuming no “unexpected shocks to the cherry production and export industry.” However, it also notes that China consumed 90.8% of Chile’s 2024-25 fresh cherry exports and expects China’s demand to remain strong in the upcoming season.

When it comes to exports of Chilean cherries to the U.S., FAS forecasts the U.S. will import a total of 30,000 metric tons or 66.14 million pounds, largely due to increased shipments from Chile. If realized, this would be a record for U.S. cherry imports.

“Chile continues to increase its investment in North America, and we will see an expanded consumer and retail campaign this season,” reports Frutas de Chile. The group says that the first air shipments of Chilean cherries usually hit New York markets in late October, and it reports that product on those early flights were cited as being of excellent condition.

“Peak U.S. availability [runs] from late December through February, with the first charter vessel arriving on the East Coast in mid-December,” the group adds, noting that it is “working with retailers to promote over the holidays, New Year’s, Valentine’s Day and National Cherry Month in February.”

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Seen and Heard at IFPA Global Produce and Floral Show 2025: Expanded Lines and New Introductions

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 15:50:03 GMT

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Ocean Mist showcased its expanded Roastables line, now with seven items, at the International Fresh Produce Association’s Global Produce and Floral Show. The company will soon debut new packaging for the Roastables line.

“It’s a breath of fresh air into this line,” says Lori Bigras, communications manager at Ocean Mist Farms. “We want them to jump off the shelves.

The new packaging features a vertical window and fun typography and Ocean Mist plans to launch the new packaging in the first quarter of 2026.

Jeff Fulton, Chris Drew, Lori Bigras, Brian Hawes and Joe Angelo at Ocean Mist Farms’ Global Produce and Floral Show booth.

(Photo: Christina Herrick)

This new look is designed to meet customers where they are, with seasons and flavoring that is aligned with today’s shopper.

“We’re focused on service, quality and innovation,” says Chris Drew, president and CEO of Ocean Mist Farms, noting Ocean Mist really focuses on educating consumers on the value of Rostables. “We want everyone to have access to flavorful and nutritious produce.”

Robert Hernandez, Martha Noriega, Ana Romero Carbajal, Alan Voll and Daniel Heguertty at the Fresh Farms Global Produce and Floral Show booth.

(Photo: Christina Herrick)

Fresh Farms showcased new Candy Hearts and Candy Snaps additions to its frozen grape line, joining the popular Cotton Candy frozen grapes.

Frederico Albonetti, Gianluca Vignoli, Nour Abdrabbo at Unitec’s IFPA Global Produce and Floral Show booth.

(Photo: Christina Herrick)

Unitec showcased its newest sorting and packing technology at the IFPA Global Produce and Floral Show.

Justin Wright and Jeff Richardson at Great Lakes Greenhouses’ IFPA Global Produce and Floral Show.

(Photo: Christina Herrick)

Visitors to the Great Lakes Greenhouses booth talked about the upcoming winter season mini organic cucumbers program.

Ashley Filliol, Hailey Monson, Catherine Gipe-Stewart, Trisha Casper, Destiny Nash, Jeff Webb, Luis Gonzalez, Matthew Snider and Derek Tweedy at the Superfresh Growers IFPA Global Produce and Floral Show Booth.

(Photo: Christina Herrick)

Superfresh Growers highlighted its new packing line and a new pear grower added to the fold, which brings breath, volume and quality to the pear category. The company plans to open a new Rainier cherry packing line in the spring with new packaging and merchandising. Superfresh Growers have a dedicated Rainier line and offers the cherries in a 2- and 3-pound and polybagged options.

“We continue to increase our quality and reduce scuffs,” says Catherine Gipe-Stewart, director of marketing for Superfresh Growers.

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Judge Dismisses Claims, Counterclaims in Staccato Cherry Lawsuit

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 21:20:59 GMT

Summerland Varieties Corp., which holds the global master license for Staccato cherries, says that the District Court for the Eastern District of Washington dismissed claims and counterclaims between Agriculture and Agri-Food, Summerland Varieties Corp., Van Well Nursery and Gordon and Sally Goodwin.

This summer, Van Well Nursery and the Goodwins reached a settlement with AAFC, SVC says, which includes a monetary payment and assignment of the “Glory” patent to AAFC and destruction of all “Glory” trees in Van Well Nursery and the Goodwins’ possession.

Summerland Varieties Corp. says claims and counterclaims between Agriculture and Agri-Food and Monson Fruit Company are unresolved.

In March, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington reversed a previous order invalidating a plant patent related to Staccato cherries. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, a department of the Canadian government, owns the intellectual property rights to Staccato cherry. The court had ruled that the Glory cherry is actually the Staccato cherry, and as a result, AAFC is now free to pursue its claim that the propagation, distribution and sale of Glory trees or cherries infringes the Staccato patent.

AAFC has had long-running legal action with three U.S.-based defendants: Gordon Goodwin, a Washington State orchardist who claimed to have discovered the Glory tree and patented it as his own; Van Well Nursery Inc., a U.S. nursery that transferred a Staccato cherry tree to Goodwin and then grew and sold Glory trees; and Monson Fruit Co., a U.S. grower, packer, and seller of Glory cherries.

The 2025 Pacer 25 — Tim Harrington

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 19:53:10 GMT

Editor’s note: The following profile is from the 2025 Packer 25, our annual tribute to 25 leaders, innovators and agents of change across the fresh produce supply chain. ( You can view all honorees here. ) This feature has been edited for length and clarity.

Tim Harrington — Senior merchandising manager, Stemilt Growers

If you’ve ever been to a Stemilt Growers trade show booth, you’ve likely met Tim Harrington, the company’s senior merchandising manager. Harrington has a dynamite personality and the sales know-how to back it up.

Harrington will retire from Stemilt in 2026. He says it’s bittersweet.

“It’s such mixed emotions,” he says. “I’m voluntarily quitting the best job I’ve ever had.”

Harrington got his start in the fresh produce industry with Hannaford Bros. in the produce department before going to college to study marketing, a job he says really helped him in his future roles. He worked part-time while going to school. And after graduation, Harrington worked at Shaw Supermarkets for 23 years, 13 of which as a quality assurance manager. He joined Stemilt in 2009, as a merchandising manager, where he says he could meld his marketing degree with his produce department expertise — and the rest is history.

Harrington credits his success to his wife, Donna, who he says has supported, encouraged and championed him through his 33 years in the fresh produce industry.

What are the biggest challenges facing growers and marketers of pears, apples and cherries?

Maintaining the economics of growing and packing. As with many in the produce industry, we’ve seen the expense of farming and packaging rise significantly over the past 10 years. In my eyes, the retail on apples, pears and cherries has remained basically static. They really haven’t seen any changes in retail over all these years. In some cases, retails have not changed in those 10 years; apples, pears and cherries are still a tremendous value for a family’s grocery cart.

Labor is another challenge facing our industry. I’m so proud to say that Stemilt is on the cutting edge of combating this with the latest and most sophisticated pear, cherry and apple packing lines. With this new technology and equipment, we can maximize production that will offset some of the labor challenges. All of these enhancements and have come at a significant investment, but they are absolutely essential to our business.

What do you see as the biggest opportunities for growth in the pear, apple and cherry categories?

We grow a significant amount of our apples organically. And truthfully, the industry hasn’t grown to its full potential with organic apples, pears and cherries — certainly not to the numbers we’re growing and packing organically. There’s a significant room to have increases with organic apples and pears and cherries far beyond what they’re currently achieving — to maximize organic apple, pear and cherry sales, to increase promotions and awareness. While we have seen organic apple, pears and cherries grow in sales over the past 10 years, there is still double-digit opportunities to capture more of that business.

The organic consumer is the ideal consumer shopping in your store or online. Their basket size, in many cases, is double that of the conventional shopper. Having a well-balanced, competitive organic offering at the store is key. With apples and pears, a premium of anywhere between 30 cents to 50 cents a pound is ideal on most varieties; that narrow spread of retail will maximize sales as well as enticing new customers to the organic category.

Are there specific programs that you’ve been especially proud to help build, market or champion?

One that really stands out is the opportunity to share what I call a look inside the world of apple, pears and cherries at Stemilt. We’ve done that through our unique Stemilt Apple, Pear and Cherry College.

We’ll take anyone from a produce manager to a produce specialist to a produce inspector to a category manager to a director to a VP to an owner. We run it very similarly to Driscoll University.

I’m really proud of the education that we’ve done with these people through these on-site apple, pear and cherry colleges, sharing the knowledge of the behind the scenes, of what it takes to grow beautiful and delicious fruit.

I’m also proud of the many visits to our retail customer locations to bring the orchard to them for on-site educational sessions. We actually go and we’ll do a two-hour educational session with videos, interactive questions. This, too, has allowed many store team members to gain valuable knowledge about where our products come from and the latest and fresh trends of what we see for the future.

Many of the interactive office samplings have allowed teammates to try new and exciting upcoming varieties. I have a niche for going into people’s corporate headquarters to their cafeterias, and in taking a new variety of an apple or cherry or pear and spending the mid-morning through mid-afternoon either giving out a whole piece of fruit or slicing fruit, having hundreds and hundreds of people try it.

Of course, we do that store level as well, but these educational and learning sessions, I think, are invaluable. And I’m very proud of that, proud of us at Stemilt for having apple and cherry colleges. It’s renowned. No one else does it. It’s really unique to us, and we’re super proud of all the people over the last 16 years we’ve had come through.

Who have been the most influential mentors or role models in your journey, and what lessons from them do you carry into your career today?

Al Michoud was my first produce manager that I worked for in the early ’80s. Al taught me the value of a true day’s work. He taught me about the seasonality of fresh produce as well as making sure only the best quality and freshness were present on the counters. He was a stickler for this too. If you didn’t take off the bad stuff in the morning, he was going to get you. He was a stickler for freshness on the counters, making even if the display wasn’t full. What was out there had to be primo, and I’ve carried that through my whole life.

And then I got to the latter part of my career, where I credit Roger Pepperl and Brianna Shales for being highly influential in my latter part of my life. They took a chance on me, they hired me and then they encouraged me to reach my full potential in interacting with our customers through my creative delivery. I don’t even know I got this creative delivery built inside me. All I know is they liked my personality. They liked the way I interacted with our retailers, and they gave me full carte blanche to go off and do whatever it took to really maximize the relationship and the sales potential with those customers.

They both encouraged me to reach my full potential of interacting with our customers through my creative delivery. They were super supportive of my suggestions for my unique ways of reaching customers, whether it be a road show or a town hall event or even a simple lobby sampling. They always boosted my confidence. Whatever I set my mind to, this was a huge boost, allowing to be more confident and achieve success in ways that I only dreamed of.

What advice would you give to young professionals entering the produce business today?

If the opportunity presents itself, work produce in the retail store environment for a year or two. Anybody entering the business, I personally think they should have a year of store produce experience as they grow and continue to become familiar with all of the offerings in the produce department as well as how they are merchandised. This will truly help establish a well-rounded picture of what it’s like to spend a day in the life of produce. You’re going to be exposed to all the different seasons for a couple of years.

As you progress up the ladder in various positions in the industry, you can always reflect back on those basic roots. It also builds great street credibility. I know a lot of kids coming to university, and they just don’t want to do the retail hours. And I get it, but I think it’s a great building block for them to really get their feet on steady ground to understand. A lot of times, people come from university and they may be assigned to buy potatoes or onions or watermelons or cherries. This way, they have the whole department for a couple of years, and they’ve seen how it works.

The category managers and vice presidents — their customers are the stores. The store’s customers are the people who come shop the store.

If you tell someone you worked in the stores, you truly do know what it’s like to be on the front lines with this produce.

I would also like to encourage those young professionals entering our industry to find a mentor who has a significant amount of years in the business. There is much to be gained from the knowledge of a seasoned veteran.

Sun World, Pairwise Partner to Develop the Pitless Cherry

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 16:25:10 GMT

Seeking to offer consumers a superior eating experience with optimal convenience, Sun World International and Pairwise have formed a joint venture to collaborate in specialty fruit, beginning with the development of a pitless cherry. Sun World will have exclusive commercial rights to the genetics as it seeks a first-to-market position in high-quality pitless cherries, according to a news release.

The companies say the partnership leverages the La Quinta, Calif.-based Sun World’s fruit breeding and licensing expertise with Pairwise’s Fulcrum platform. As part of the agreement, Sun World says it will make strategic investments to fund development.

“Our focus has long been on offering truly differentiated genetics to our growers with exceptional new traits, flavors, texture and convenience,” says Bernardo Calvo, Sun World CEO. “Developing a high-quality pitless cherry is a natural innovation evolution for us and in Pairwise, we’ve found an extraordinary partner already well down this quite complex path.”

Tasty Track Record

The global fruit variety development and licensing company has an established track record of investing in convenience traits in produce, first introducing a smaller and seedless watermelon, driving further enhancements in the seedless grape category and more recently acquiring the variety rights management business responsible for introducing seedless lemons and mandarin varieties promoted at retail under the Cuties, Halos, Peelz and Clemengold brands.

It’s this track record that makes Sun World confident there’s a market for a pitless cherry.

“Through learning from our relationships with supermarket produce buyers, fruit marketers and growers, we take a crop category that’s on an upward consumption trajectory, and then see how it can be enhanced to boost volume,” Calvo told The Packer. “As an example, seedless watermelon and table grapes have eclipsed their seeded counterparts. Cherries are gaining in popularity globally, and we did some consumer research last year with 67% of respondents saying the presence of pits prevents them from purchasing more cherries. Both Pairwise and Sun World believe strongly that a pitless cherry is a need to be met.”

Meaningful Innovation

Durham, N.C.-based Pairwise, which has developed the world’s first seedless blackberry, brings its platform that accelerates the development of in-demand crop traits, the release says. Pairwise says that while traditional breeding involves a lengthy process, this approach creates a faster path to fruits that consumers will enjoy while providing growers with crops that offer greater sustainability, improved disease resistance and higher yields.

“This is a segment of agriculture where there’s tremendous opportunity to bring meaningful innovation,” says Tom Adams, CEO of Pairwise. “Sun World has built one of the most successful commercial pipelines in fruit genetics. Combining that expertise with the precision and efficiency of Pairwise’s Fulcrum platform allows us to address unmet consumer and grower needs in a way that hasn’t been possible before.”

Pairwise will lead the R&D effort, while Sun World contributes its germplasm, breeding infrastructure and commercial market access.

When will consumers get their first taste of the pitless cherry?

“There’s an art as well as a science to varietal development work, but the application of new technologies and advances in science are accelerating this process in a powerful way. It’s a very exciting time to be in this sector,” Adams told The Packer. “We’re estimating five to six years for development, and commercialization within 10 years.”

Co-founded by the inventors of CRISPR, Pairwise’s Fulcrum Platform aims to accelerate the development of climate-resilient, nutritious and sustainable crops. The company says it’s committed to delivering innovation that makes food easier to grow and better to eat.

What was the inspiration for the partnership and the pitless cherry?

“From Sun World’s perspective, collaborations tend to be triggered by our drive to innovate and to offer specialty products that are, well, actually special,” Calvo says. “Our involvement with seedless watermelons, table grapes, mandarins and, most recently, lemons are past proofs of that. We believe consumer eating convenience is highly desirable, and we’re prioritizing that through our association with Pairwise. My colleagues and I at Sun World feel very fortunate to now be aligned with the smart people at Pairwise, who have a proven track record in optimizing convenience, as well as quality. “

The companies say the joint venture is already advancing development work and may explore additional strategic partnerships. In addition to its focus on consumer traits, the collaboration aligns with broader industry efforts to use advanced plant breeding to support sustainable agriculture, reduce waste and create higher-value outcomes for both consumers and producers.

Federal Safety Net is Fraying in Michigan's Cherry Country

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 18:43:21 GMT

The frost came in late April, sliding across the hills before dawn. Juliette King McAvoy stepped into the orchard, hoping the cold had spared the cherry buds. But they glittered in the morning sun like glass, just as dead.

Weather had damaged much of the family orchard’s crop for the third time in five years. The blow landed on a farm and an industry already squeezed by the Trump administration’s changes to government services, immigration and trade policies.

King Orchards’ harvest crew from Guatemala arrived in mid-July, short-handed and weeks late after delays in securing the H-2A seasonal farmworker visas they rely on each year. They paid more to ship fresh cherries by private carrier after a U.S. Postal Service reorganization left fresh fruit sitting a bit too long.

A USDA grant request for funding a cold-storage unit remained in limbo, as Washington cut spending on farm programs and agricultural research. And Jack King, Juliette’s brother and the farm’s agronomist, kept searching for fertilizer cheap enough to haul and untouched by President Donald Trump’s trade wars.

“It all slows us down,” said King McAvoy, the farm’s business manager, during a brief pause in July’s harried harvest.

Farmers in the hills near Grand Traverse Bay, where the fruit of their labor has filled pies and fed generations, said they are caught in the crosshairs of Trump’s reshaping of government, with sharp cuts and increasing delays hitting the $227-million U.S. tart cherry industry hard.

From weather, plant disease and pest woes, USDA forecasts Michigan will lose 41% of its tart cherry crop this year, compared to 2024. Northwest Michigan, where the King farm is located, faces the steepest drop — about 70%, according to the Cherry Industry Administrative Board.

After the April freeze, King McAvoy’s phone rang. It was her friend and fellow grower, Emily Miezio, in Suttons Bay, Mich. “What are you seeing?”

Juliette stared at the trees. “I’m not sure. But it’s not good.”

South of the Kings, the cold snap left farmer Don Gallagher’s trees sparse.

“We can grow leaves,” he said, as his family hunted for fruit in the branches. “We just can’t grow cherries.”

POLITICS AND TARIFFS

Michigan’s cherry roots run deep, from French settlers bringing the fruit to the Midwest. The Montmorency, ruby-red and mouth-puckering, became the region’s signature, in pies, juice, dried fruit and the syrup Midwesterners spoon over cheesecake.

When John King bought the farm in 1980, cherries were a Michigan birthright, like cars. He grew up in a General Motors family in Flint, working summers picking fruit.

“It felt pure,” said King, now 74.

He secured 80 acres of land with help from a federal loan. The roadside stand came with a preacher’s warning painted on the sign: Repent lest you perish in the fires of hell. He covered it with a rainbow and his dream: King Orchards.

Today, it’s a full family operation. In addition to King’s daughter, Juliette King McAvoy; and son, Jack; King’s wife, Betsy, runs the market with Jack’s wife, Courtney. King’s brother Jim manages the harvest; Jim’s wife, Rose, is chief baker; and their son-in-law, Mark Schiller, runs the hand-pick crews.

Antrim County, where the farm sits, has long leaned Republican. The Kings, who are progressives, say the past few years have shown how national politics can ripple through their orchards.

Trump’s sweeping tax-and-spending law expanded safety nets for large commodity crop operations, such as corn and soybeans, for feed and biofuels.

But nutrition and local food programs fruit and vegetable growers depend on were slashed, and his trade policies chilled demand from top export partners, according to government data and academic researchers.

While USDA did not answer Reuters’ specific questions regarding challenges facing the cherry industry, a spokesperson said Trump’s law boosts the farm safety net, and includes increased funding for programs that support specialty crops and fight plant pests and diseases.

The Kings and nearly a dozen other farmers across party lines told Reuters they expected tariffs to return if Trump won, but they hoped for a more surgical approach.

About one-third of the Kings’ concentrate goes overseas, mostly to Taiwan and New Zealand. But Michigan’s crop loss will play a bigger role in diminished tart cherry exports than tariffs this year, the Kings and other growers said.

The White House did not comment on questions about the administration’s trade policy.

Asked about delivery delays, the USPS said it had a plan to save $36 billion over 10 years that would mean slightly slower delivery for some mail, but faster service for other customers.

SHRINKING EXPORTS AND BUDGETS

While Michigan orchards struggle to fill bins, branches are bending in the West, with Washington State’s sweet cherry production 29% bigger this year due to favorable weather, USDA forecast. But growers there face different woes: fewer places to sell and low prices.

In 2024, the U.S. exported nearly $506 million in fresh cherries worldwide — up 10% in value and 3% in volume from the year before, U.S. Census Bureau trade data shows.

In the first half of this year, as Trump’s trade wars reignited, U.S. fresh fruit exports fell 17% in volume and 15% in value. U.S. shipments to China never fully recovered after Trump’s 2018 trade war. Sales to Canada also fell 18% by volume in the first six months.

“There’s little appetite for U.S. products in Canada,” said Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.

Jon DeVaney, president of the Washington State Tree Fruit Association, said wholesale sweet cherry prices are slumping, and many Northwest farmers are losing money.

Back in Michigan, sideways rain lashed Suttons Bay. Emily Miezio hunched in the downpour in her family and business partners’ orchard, watching the storm-lit sky.

A worker steered a low-slung tree shaker to the trunk, clamping its arms tight. Tart cherries fell like red hail into a catching frame, funneled into bins, as another worker scooped out twigs and leaves, moving fast, racing the dawn. At the chilling station, a Michigan State University intern logged each truck with fruit to be cooled and processed by morning.

Miezio, whose farm spans about 2,500 acres, leads the Cherry Marketing Institute, the tart cherry industry trade group. For years, they’d tried to claw back into China.

“That door’s pretty much slammed shut,” she said, since the 2018 trade wars. Now they’re courting Mexico and South Korea.

USDA HELP

On Traverse City’s northern edge, the Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Center is a 137-acre test farm. Run by Michigan State University and funded by USDA grants and grower money, it’s where Nikki Rothwell has spent more than two decades helping orchards survive.

She’s got the sun-creased skin of someone who lives outdoors and a laugh like a cracked whip. Farmers lean on her, especially now.

On a sticky summer morning, she walked the rows with interns and researchers, testing hardier trees and better fruit. When they fired up the tree shaker — a grumbling relic older than some of the scientists — a rust-colored cloud of brown rot spores rose in the heat and settled on their sleeves. Tree by tree, they logged bruised fruit and powdery mold.

“This kind of research doesn’t have corporate backers,” Rothwell said. “It’s always been the government and the growers.”

This month, she’s submitting the last paperwork for a $100,000 USDA grant awarded under the Biden administration for a disease study — money that’s part of a federal review of climate-related research. She’s not sure if the money will come through. Colleagues at other land-grant schools haven’t been paid, she said.

LABOR SQUEEZE

Money isn’t the only thing held up. So are the people needed to bring in the crop.

The labor squeeze stretches coast to coast. In Oregon, grower Ian Chandler watched half a million pounds of cherries rot on trees. He began harvesting with 47 workers on June 10. He needed 120. Fear that Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in California would spread north kept some people away, he said.

“We are bleeding from a thousand cuts,” said Chandler, 47, an Army veteran with two sons in uniform. “It’s an untenable position.”

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Trump is committed to ensuring farmers have the workforce they need, but that there will be no safe harbor for criminal illegal immigrants.

In Michigan, the King Orchards’ crew was short two people, whose H-2A visa paperwork in Guatemala cleared too late, said Schiller, who runs the farm’s hand-pick harvest crew.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Reuters that H-2 visa applicants should apply early and anticipate additional processing time, as U.S. embassies and consulates work to process them quickly without compromising U.S. national or economic security.

Inside the barn, one of the farm’s long-time workers named Maria Pascual stood at the sorting line, head wrapped against the heat, hands moving with quiet precision.

She came to the U.S. from Guatemala at 17 with her father. They picked peppers and cucumbers in Florida, then followed the harvest north. She met her husband on the road. For a while, they lived the migrant rhythm — cherries in Michigan, oranges in Florida — until 1990, when they stayed for good.

“When you have kids…" she said and let the sentence hang.

She and her husband earned legal permanent residency under Ronald Reagan’s 1986 immigration law, which helped millions of immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally to secure legal status. Two years ago, Maria became a U.S. citizen.

“I just wanted to be a citizen,” she said. “I feel like… just normal.”

Now, Trump’s immigration policies hang over her family like a brewing storm. One brother was picked up by ICE this summer in Florida and deported. Others back home hope to come on H-2A visas.

There have been no major ICE raids on Michigan farms this year. But the fear lingers, sharpened this summer by the opening of the Midwest’s largest ICE detention center — up to 1,810 beds set deep in the forest in Baldwin, Mich., where birdsong drifts over the Concertina wire.

(Reporting by P.J. Huffstutter. Additional reporting by Evelyn Hockstein and Nathan Frandino in Traverse City, Michigan, and Sofia Menchu in Guatemala City. Editing by Emily Schmall and Claudia Parsons.)

Festival Foods Set to Host Record-Breaking Cherry Display

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 15:33:07 GMT

Festival Foods says it is kicking off the peak of cherry season in a big way.

On July 16, the Festival Foods location in De Pere, Wis. will host what it says is the largest cherry display in company history: a 9-foot-wide, 30-foot-long and 6-foot-high mountain of fresh cherries handpicked from Pacific Northwest orchards, according to a news release.

Guests can view the cherry display on Festival Foods’ social media pages — if they’re not visiting the De Pere store — and enter the contest by commenting on the cherry display post with their guess of how many cherries were used. The four closest guesses will each win a $50 Festival Foods gift card, the company says.

The event is a celebration of the summer’s harvest, in partnership with Superfresh Growers, a grower and shipper of Northwest cherries; and Crazy Fresh, produce partner to Festival Foods.

Often called the “diamonds of summer,” each cherry in the display has been carefully grown and hand-harvested by family farms in the Pacific Northwest, the company says. Shoppers will also have the opportunity to meet Dave Gleason, Superfresh Growers’ horticulturist and grower, who will be on site July 16 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to offer samples, share insights and answer questions about cherry growing and harvesting, the release says.

“We couldn’t be more excited to bring this spectacular cherry display to De Pere,” says Andrew Brehmer, senior director of produce and floral for Festival Foods. “It’s a testament to our commitment to celebrating high quality seasonal produce. Working alongside Crazy Fresh and Superfresh Growers, we’re proud to highlight the story and quality behind every cherry.”

Stemilt to Highlight Organic Cherries at OPS

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 16:34:28 GMT

Stemilt Growers says it will offer real-time updates of its current organic cherry crop as well as a look ahead to its pear and apple crops at the upcoming Organic Produce Summit.

The Wenatchee, Wash.-based company says it offers organic skeena cherries grown in high-elevation orchards that allow for good volumes this month.

“We expect cherries will be a hot topic at this year’s summit as we’re currently in the heart of harvest,” says Brianna Shales, marketing director for Stemilt. “Retailers can reap the benefits of Stemilt’s extended organic cherry season, which lasts all July, to offer freshly harvested organic cherries to consumers for as long as possible. We’ve strategically planted early-season varieties in optimal locations and late-season varieties on Stemilt Hill, where growing regions range from 2,600 feet to over 3,400 feet in elevation above sea level to lengthen our season.”

Stemilt shared that a study completed by category partners; the company, which surveyed 2,001 cherry shoppers, revealed that 33% of consumers aged 44 and younger rated organics as an important characteristic when purchasing cherries. That survey also showed that approximately 55% of natural and specialty store shoppers placed more importance on cherries, according to Stemilt.

“Demand for organic cherries is strong and will continue providing retail opportunity to sell them at a higher price point,” Shales says. “We’ll be picking and packing cherries harvested at Stemilt Hill in Wenatchee, Wash., throughout July.”

The company will also highlight its compost program, which it says has helped fuel its high-flavor fruit for the past 20 years.

“Kyle Mathison, owner of Stemilt and a fourth-generation cherry grower, is a master of growing cherries with crisp texture and sweet flavor through his World Famous compost recipe that he created two decades ago,” Shales says. “We look forward to sharing a 30-second celebratory video during our sponsored keynote session with OPS attendees.”

Stemilt says it also plans to showcase its Lil Snappers kid-sized fruit, sustainable packaging for apples and pears, and top-seal clamshell packs of organic cherries at its booth, No. 505.

“OPS is the only event that exclusively brings organic producers and buyers of the fresh produce industry together, and we look forward to it every year,” Shales says. “We can’t wait to talk all about cherries and the upcoming opportunities for the 2025-2026 organic apple and pear crops.”

New Chassis For Application: Terrana Biosciences Emerges From Stealth Mode

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 10:40:00 GMT

The saying in real estate is location, location, location. And that applies for technology being unveiling by Terrana Biosciences.

Emerging from stealth mode after four years of development, this Flagship Pioneering company is taking the RNA expertise of cousin company Moderna, and creating crop protection solutions in parallel but distinctly different than cousin company Indigo Ag.

“Terrana is coming out of the Flagship Pioneering ecosystem in Boston, and Flagship has a long history of working on RNA,” Ryan Rapp Terrana Biosciences co-founder and CEO. “Probably the best known RNA company is Moderna, but we have a whole host of other ones within the ecosystem, and it’s helped allow us to have all this knowledge about RNA, but apply it to solve problems in agriculture.”

Rapp says RNA is a natural solution to deliver proteins and RNA molecules that can solve many agronomic issues.

“Plants have natural RNAs inside of them that have been evolving with plants for thousands of years. They’ve been largely ignored, because when people are thinking about RNA in plants, they’re usually trying to find things that are making plants sick,” he says. “What Terrana does is we actually look at all the things that everyone else has not had the time to look at and we begin working with those and what we’ve developed from that is a class of three products: prevent, protect and improve.”

Still in pre-commercial phase, Terrana is working on its portfolio of biological RNA-based products that can work like a chassis to carry and deliver protein building information directly to the plant. Protective effects provided by such technologies include anti-insect, nematicidal, antibacterial, and one key solution Terrana is focused on is antivirals.
“We’re looking at some of the vegetable species where today there are severe problems with viruses in the in glass houses and protected culture, particularly like tomatoes,” Rapp says. “We’re working to create viral products that can deliver resistance to several different viruses that when you get them, you kind of have to destroy the whole crop in the greenhouse.”

(Terrana Biosciences)

While the company’s first development focus is specialty crops, Rapp is eyeing opportunities in row crops as well.

“Think about Asian soybean rust in Brazil. You’ve got farmers that are growing three crops of soybean a year down there and spraying up to 16 times. We believe with the way that our technology works we could potentially reduce that to one spray per cropping cycle. So it’s basically three sprays per year,” he says.

New solutions to previously uncontrolled pests, improved application efficicacy and climate resilience are all benefits Rapp says are possible.

He points to cherry orchards in the Pacific Northwest requiring chill hours–hours below 45 degrees Fahrenheit. And farmers have observed warmer winters, which leads to poor flowering, poor fruit set and poor quality fruit.

“Farmers don’t have good options today—they could cut down the cherry trees, move north to Canada, or replace trees with new genetics,” he says. “Terrana’s product lets us do something completely different. We could go in during the summer, spray those trees with our RNA based product, and actually attenuate or turn down the amount of cold hours that they need so that they can go back to being productive farms that are setting high quality fruit. This keeps those flavor profiles, keeps the cherries that consumers have come to love, and gives the economics back to the farmer.”

Terrana is aiming to have commercially available products in the next few years, pending regulatory approval, that can be applied as sprayables or seed treatments. And the company says its RNA-based biologicals can be stored at ambient temperature and will be formulated as stand alone applications or for tank mixes.

Next-Gen Cherry Grower on the Making of ‘World Famous’ Fruit

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 11:22:22 GMT

Fifth-generation Washington farmer Tate Mathison and his father, Kyle Mathison, are bringing new meaning to the term “cherry picking.”

For over a decade, the Mathisons have grown and sourced ultra-premium cherries for Stemilt Growers under the Kyle’s Pick brand. But what began as a “pet project” has evolved into something much more, says the younger Mathison of his father’s namesake cherries. Now backed by science and empirical data, the family says it’s bringing consistently “world famous” cherries to market each season.

For Tate Mathison, who grew up working alongside his father on his family’s Wenatchee, Wash.-based Stemilt Hill cherry orchards, knowing where to find the best fruit has long been second nature, but how best to communicate that knowledge to his retail customers was a question that needed an answer.

“I remember thinking, ‘these cherries are so amazing, but how do I really communicate to my customer that these are super-duper?’ You can do it by size, but that doesn’t ensure that the cherries are the best, because you can get big cherries that just taste OK — but some taste amazing,” he says. “So, we wanted to ensure that … and to communicate to the end consumer that Kyle’s Pick are the cherries we’d be looking for if we were shopping for cherries.”

What began as cherry picking the best of the best by instinct is now a data-driven and highly selective quality control process that aims to deliver fruit that meets ultra-premium standards for size, firmness, color and flavor.

“The essence of Kyle’s Pick was that, as a fifth-generation cherry grower, I can go on any orchard and tell you if there’s going to be good cherries, and then if there is, I’ll know exactly where to get them on every single tree,” says Mathison. “That was the spirit of the program and we’ve gotten better and better at it over the years to where now we feel we have coupled the passion of what my dad’s been doing as a fourth-generation cherry grower with the science and the empirical data of the fruit.

“Today, it’s now a huge, multidepartment process,” he continues. “Dozens of people are involved in the selection process itself, and there’s a huge amount of effort to ensure that Kyle’s Pick delivers that same eating experience every time.”

Premium Picking

Mathison says varieties are the foundation of a premium cherry program.

“With cherries you’re going to pick that tree one time and when it’s picked, it’s done,” he says. “And specific cherry varieties are grown in locations to extend the season from the first week of May to the first week of September. You have all these varieties staggered throughout the season and some varieties can be excellent and some can be pretty good at their best.

“What Kyle’s Pick does is take only certain varieties that can be ultra-premium — [bing, sweetheart, skeena and Staccato] — that’s the first thing, and that baseline is based off our generations of cherry growing and scouring the globe for varieties,” says Mathison. “We set the bar at these varieties for Kyle’s Pick, and then once the varieties are chosen, we map out when those varieties will pick and where.”

From here, Mathison says the field staff team comes in to identify the growers “doing the right stuff” to cultivate ultra-premium varieties.

“The top level narrows down by the grower and how good they are,” he says. “Because it takes no skill to pick a cherry early, but it takes all the skill in the world — and all of the hutzpah — to pick it when it’s ripe, because all the risk now belongs to the grower.

“You pick a cherry five or six days early, sure it’s red. It tastes OK. It’s going to make it through the packing process, but it’s not going to delight consumers with excellence,” he says. “It’s just going to be a cherry.”

The field team then passes the baton to the R&D team, who collect data from the orchards that show premium potential. Each lot undergoes a rigorous quantitative analysis and is given a score based on Kyle’s Pick proprietary scoring system. Only cherries that earn a 90 or higher make the grade.

“They’re out there scouting ahead and pulling samples as harvest is starting to come along, and then it gets passed off to our QA (quality assurance) team,” says Mathison. “As the grower goes into harvest the fruit, we take multiple field samples throughout the day. One grower lot might get six to 10 field samples done by our team and they run the full gamut — size, color, firmness, sugar, defect, stem quality, etc. — throughout the day. So, we have a very good understanding of the fruit as it’s getting picked.”

Once the data on each grower lot is uploaded to the system, the team ranks them.

“It’s just like March Madness,” says Mathison. “All those growers get ranked, and we’re looking at the qualities and the varieties, and then we have notes from the R&D team, and we have this cherry meeting that we love. Then we start to qualify the grower lots of what will be Kyle’s Pick.”

Kyle’s Pick cherries are a family affair for the Mathisons.

(Photo courtesy of Stemilt)

Limited-Time Offer

Mathison says while Kyle’s Pick aims to deliver on a promise to the consumer with every bite, time is of the essence with a seasonal fruit like cherries.

“You have May, June, July and August — four months,” says Mathison. “And in those four months, how many times are they going to the store? How many times are we going to be on promotion with a lot of volume? How many times are we going to be able to delight someone with something they’ve never experienced before?

“Because cherries have that ability,” he continues. “There’s only a handful of fruit that really can do it, and that’s really what we’re trying to do with Kyle’s Pick — to give someone a taste of something that’s just like, ‘Wow.’”

Because of these rigorous standards, there may be pauses in supply of Kyle’s Pick to its retail customers, says Brianna Shales, Stemilt’s marketing director, who adds “it’s all part of keeping the bar high.”

But having cultivated and selected cherries for the Kyle’s Pick program since 2013, Mathison says his family continues to build on volume and quality.

“You have to have a large block of premium fruit to start with before you can even attempt something like Kyle’s Pick,” he says. “That’s why it’s taken 10 years to really get to the point where we feel like, hey, we’ve got the world’s best cherries; we’ve got to tell the universe.”

But the volume is limited, says Mathison, who on June 20 when he spoke with The Packer, was packing only a couple hundred boxes of Kyle’s Pick a day out of about 70,000 boxes packed a day.

“It’s a pretty small amount now, however, my dad starts to pick next week and my brother is picking now, so in about seven or eight days, we’ll be harvesting two or three varieties that are really superior.”

And the market demand for a premium fruit experience is strong, he says.

“We found that the marketplace desires something like Kyle’s Pick. Retailers want to have something special to give to their guests. And the end consumer is super hungry for it as well,” he says. “If you have a customer that actually puts cherries on the list, it’s a pretty well-informed customer already and they’re probably willing to pay a little bit more for an experience that is mind blowing.”

A 1-pound clamshell of Kyle’s Pick cherries retail for between $3.99 and $5.99, depending on the market, says Shales.

Mathison expects they’ll ship around 200,000 boxes of Kyle’s Pick this season out of a total of 3.5 million to 4 million boxes of Washington cherries.

Generations in the Making

What does it mean to bring a cherry named for your father to market and how do you plan to carry the legacy forward as a fifth-generation cherry grower?

“It’s very humbling, because what we’re doing is not built in one lifetime,” says Mathison. “You can look within Stemilt the company and in the farms we have and you can see that the fingerprints of generations past.”

From his great-great-grandfather, who first homesteaded on the property, to his grandfather, who applied for and received the last point of diversion off the Columbia River in 1978, allowing his ancestors to irrigate the orchards, Mathison says he and his brother have been set up for success.

“It’s like they put us on the 10-yard line to score and to be successful,” he says. “They did most of the work, and now it’s just up to me to give my best effort to the next point of the legacy, to hopefully improve it — to hopefully grow it in a way that’s helpful to our community and to the folks who are part of our company.”

Mathison says the sixth generation — his and his brother’s children — are already involved in the family business and excited to be a part of it.

“My kids see what my dad is doing, and they’re like, ‘I want to be like that. I want to do that. That looks fun.’ You know what? It looks fun to me too,” he says.

European Cherry Fruit Fly Quarantine Expands in New York

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 18:51:09 GMT

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said in a news release that it has expanded the European cherry fruit fly (ECFF) quarantine to include Onondaga, Oswego and Seneca Counties in New York. This action, which APHIS said it worked in cooperation with the New York State Department of Agriculture on, expands the quarantine by 1,018 square miles and includes 23 areas of commercial cherry production.

APHIS says it detected four adult ECFF in Oswego County between June 17 and June 26, 2024, and counties in the quarantine now include Cayuga, Erie, Genesee, Monroe, Niagara, Onondaga, Ontario, Orleans, Oswego, Senaca and Wayne Counties. In total, the ECFF quarantine comprises 7,353 square miles and 1,539 acres of commercial cherry production.

APHIS says this quarantine does not include the Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Onondaga, Tonawanda, and Tuscarora Indian Reservations.

The invasive species was first identified in New York in 2017 and most likely spread through the movement of infested fruit.

Sweet Cherry Season Looks Strong for Growers, Retailers

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 18:10:23 GMT

It’s going to be a great year for sweet cherries, said Chuck Sinks, vice president of sales and marketing for the Elgin, Minn.-based Honeybear Brands, a grower and marketer of apples, pears and cherries.

Sinks said retailers should start to see ample volume starting around June 12 and close to a million cases overall.

“Mother Nature’s been very good to us, and there should be a plentiful amount of cherries to advertise,” he said. “The quality of the cherries looks great on the trees.”

Sinks said there will be ample opportunity for retailers to cross-promote leading into the Fourth of July holiday.

“We should have plenty of cherries for the Fourth of July ads,” he said. “We’ll have plenty of cherries for after the Fourth of July and to promote them until the end of July or the first week or two of August.”

And, with Honeybear’s recently announced partnership with Starr Ranch Growers , the company will now have two cherry warehouses packing in the Pacific Northwest, offering custom packs.

“We should be able to take really good care of our retail partners,” he said.

Sinks said the sweet cherry industry is excited to start the season, as the last couple of seasons have been a challenge; with everything looking good into harvest, it can be a beneficial season for both growers and retailers.

“We really need a good cherry season for both the grower and the retailer,” he said. “And it’s important that retailers know that we need a good season for the grower and the retailer.”

Washington Fruit Growers unveils new high-tech cherry packing line

Wed, 28 May 2025 15:50:48 GMT

Washington Fruit Growers has completed the installation of a new packing line, designed to enhance production capacity and better serve its growing customer base.

The investment demonstrates the company’s commitment to meeting rising demand while maintaining the highest standards of quality and efficiency, according to a news release.

Construction on the new line began in August 2024, following a design phase that started in May. The project was led primarily by Unitec Group, an Italian manufacturer known for its innovative packing systems, the grower said. The line features advanced sorting technology and was built adjacent to the original cherry facility, leveraging existing infrastructure to maximize space and streamline operations.

With the new line, Washington Fruit Growers expects a substantial boost in its operational capacity. “The new cherry line allows for better core efficiencies, enabling us to be more agile and responsive to customer needs,” said Tommy Hanses, CEO of Washington Fruit Growers. “This investment boosts service quality, scales organic cherry packing and adds flexibility in consumer packaging,” he added.

The company believes this strategic expansion will enhance its ability to adapt to shifting market needs and better serve its partners. By aligning cherry production capabilities with its apple and pear production volumes, Washington Fruit Growers said it continues to strengthen its market position and scale for the future. The new packing line further reinforces the company’s reputation as a trusted supplier in the fresh produce sector, the release said.

British Columbia cherries poised for big rebound

Wed, 21 May 2025 19:41:46 GMT

It’s been a great start to the season for cherry growers in British Columbia, says Richard Isaacs, managing director of Creston, British Columbia-based Global Fruit,
offering growers some relief after last year’s challenges.

A devastating freeze in January 2024 wiped out more than 90% of fruit buds for that season across the province. Isaacs said the cherry trees rebounded well and put all their energy last summer into developing buds for the 2025 crop.

“The engine of the tree, which is the leaves and the roots, has to do two jobs: It has to feed that year’s fruit, and it has to build buds for the following season,” he said. “There was no fruit, so 100% of the energy from the tree went into buds [for the 2025 crop], which is why we came out this spring with probably more flowers than we’ve ever seen.”

This spring brought favorable weather during bloom. Isaacs said he doesn’t want to tempt fate as there’s still a lot that can impact this year’s cherry crop (rain, cold snaps, etc.), but from what he’s seen in orchards, it’s the making of a nice, balanced crop.

“We’re always looking for the right ratio of leaf to fruit,” he said. “That fruit-to-leaf ratio is important, and it looks good at the moment. We could not feel happier about what we’re seeing in the orchards.”

Bounce-back for retailers

Isaacs said this potentially larger British Columbia crop can help retailers make up some ground from a short California cherry crop.

“I think that retailers will be looking at their year-over-year numbers in May, and they’ll be a long way behind where they were in 2024,” he said. “So, they’re going to be looking for opportunities to drive more sales in the second half of the summer, because cherries are such an important item in the produce department.”

Isaacs said retailers should expect to make up some ground with a strong Washington crop and a strong British Columbia crop.

“Washington can do great things, I hope,” he said. “Then retailers can finish really strong and hopefully make up some of the lost ground that they have missed out on during the California season with us here in Canada.”

It’s important that retailers emphasize retail displays to help drive cherry sales, Isaacs added.

“We all know cherries are an impulse purchase,” he said. “It has to have a great display. Your customers need to walk into the store and go, ‘Wow, they look great,’ and not be able to walk past them. It’s all about the display. The execution at the store level matters.”

Washington connection

Isaacs said he doesn’t see the Washington crop as a competitor, but rather helping to grow the overall cherry category with consumers.

“We wish our friends in Washington to have the very best season possible,” he said. “We want them to have great quality cherries so that customers enjoy cherries every time they go shopping and are in the cherry-eating mood by the time we get started.”

If consumers buy cherries with subpar qualities due to poor weather in other cherry-growing regions in the U.S., that could impact consumers’ overall interest in buying cherries that season, Isaacs explained.

“If they’re not very good, people won’t enjoy them, and then they’ll be put off from buying cherries,” he said. “And then we start our season, and half the cherry buyers have already decided cherries are bad this summer and stop buying them.”

Oregon grower projects strong summer for cherries

Wed, 21 May 2025 19:19:43 GMT

Orchard View Cherries, marketed exclusively by Oppy, said it expects a “standout season” with 30% larger cherry crop by volume compared to last year’s.

“This season is progressing beautifully,” Brenda Thomas, president of Orchard View, said in a May 21 news release. “Our trees came through a mild winter looking strong, and after an exceptional pollination period, they’re now bursting with more cherries than we saw in 2024. We’re thrilled to be entering this season with moderate conditions that are ideal for producing high-quality fruit.”

Oppy projected promotable volumes will begin in the last week of June, with ample supply ready for Fourth of July celebrations, and continue through the season. The company said it expects a smooth transition from California to Northwest fruit, ensuring uninterrupted availability for retailers and consumers during the peak summer season.

Oppy’s senior vice president of categories and chief marketing officer James Milne said this is one of the most-extended harvest periods seen in recent years.

“With particularly rich volcanic soil, ample sunshine and a moderate climate that’s only graced in The Dalles, [Ore.,] Orchard View continues to deliver cherries that meet the highest specifications in appearance, taste and texture,” Milne said. “With the wide spread of bloom between varieties and regions we’re seeing this season, we’ll have an extra five to seven days of fruit which is exciting.”

Oppy called Orchard View “a powerhouse in cherry production.” The company focuses exclusively on cherries, with over 90% of fruit shipped raised on the 3,500 acres it grows on. The company said it grows several varieties — chelan, bing, kordia, rainier, lapins, regina, skeena and sweetheart — which can be matched to its optimal microclimate and elevation for peak performance.

“Every cherry is handpicked in the cool early morning hours to preserve firmness and flavor,” Thomas said. “Because cherries are all we grow, we’re able to focus entirely on producing the very best — picked, packed and shipped the same day for unmatched freshness and quality.”

Cherry season shaping up well for volume and quality

Fri, 16 May 2025 20:37:25 GMT

Favorable weather this spring has set the Northwest up for what is hoped to be a great cherry season.

“We couldn’t have been luckier with the weather this growing season,” said Brianna Shales, marketing director for Stemilt Growers, a Wenatchee, Wash.-based grower-packer-shipper. “At this point, the orchards are looking great with no notable frost or rain. We had a good bloom period with warmer temps and great bee activity. Of course, Mother Nature can always change things.”

Joel Hewitt, vice president of sales for the Wenatchee-based CMI Orchards, said an early spring with warm, dry weather helped create excellent pollination and fruit set.

“This year’s cherry crop is off to a great start, thanks to a relatively mild spring across the Pacific Northwest,” Hewitt said. “We’ve avoided the extremes, no damaging cold snaps or heat spikes, which has made a world of difference for growers.”

A winter freeze impacted the overall 2024 crop size in Washington, but that’s not the case this year, which marketers hope will allow for an extended harvest into September.

Mac Riggan, vice president of sales and business development for Chelan, Wash.-based Chelan Fresh Marketing, said a good start bodes well for eating quality and shelf life in June, July and August. He said growers have pruned well in the offseason to help trees create good-sized fruit.

“What I see is a clean crop,” Riggan said. “There’s not a bunch of frost marks or hail or just insect damage. It just looks really good.”

“Overall, the quality and size of the crop looks almost perfect,” said B.J. Thurlby, president of Northwest Cherry Growers and Northwest Cherries.

Seasonal outlook

Early estimates project a larger cherry crop this season, about 24.5 million boxes, which Hewitt said is about 28% higher than last year. This is up from last year’s 19 million boxes, according to Thurlby.

Riggan said some young cherry plantings in the Pacific Northwest have started to produce, which adds to overall supply.

“We’re going to have about 10% more as a shipper ourselves, and we were expecting a good quality crop,” he said.

Thurlby said the region grows more than 60 varieties of cherries, everything from bing, skeena, sweetheart, rainier, coral champagne and Black Pearl.

“Unlike other commodities, we try to promote two types of cherries: dark sweets and yellow varieties,” Thurlby explained. “Each shipper has their own specialty, but with over 100 varieties out there, it’s very hard to promote each one individually throughout a three-month window — especially when you move from one to another so quickly.”

Riggan said the area might see fewer rainier cherries this year because some growers have removed orchards with rainier pollinators.

Retailers can expect cherries from the Pacific Northwest to start shipping around June 1 and late June for British Columbia cherries.

“Peak harvest windows will be the week of June 23, 2025, and the week of July 14, 2025,” Thurlby said. “However, there will be ample product for promotions from mid-June through at least mid-August.”

Shales said the Fourth of July holiday is another time retailers can take advantage and rally behind promotions.

“We don’t foresee any gaps or gluts currently, but July is shaping up to be a big promotion opportunity on cherries out of Washington for retailers to plan around,” Shales added.

CMI expanded its cherry packing capabilities with the addition of Pacific Coast Cherry Packers and Chelan Fruit. Hewitt said these additional packing facilities, as well as consistent sizing, quality and expected supply, can help retailers build a confident program during the key promotion window in July.

“Unlike the last couple of seasons, which saw temporary oversupply due to overlapping harvests and erratic weather, 2025 is benefiting from more favorable and predictable conditions,” she said.

Early estimates project this season’s cherry crop at about 24.5 million boxes, which is up about 28% over last year, Joel Hewitt, vice president of sales for CMI Orchards.

(Photo: Nailia Schwarz, Adobe Stock)

What consumers want

Cherry marketers say domestic demand looks solid this season as retailers have rolled out California cherries.

“Domestic demand for cherries in 2025 is showing strong momentum, driven by favorable market conditions, health-conscious consumer trends and strategic promotional efforts,” Hewitt said.

Shales said retailers see this season as an opportunity to capture missed dollars last year with the shorter cherry crop in 2024.

“Quality is the biggest reason why consumers come back for a second bag,” Shales said. “If the cherries can’t deliver on flavor, freshness and firmness, it’s likely that consumers will take a break from buying cherries for a while until they have a positive experience, according to a consumer cherry study conducted by Stemilt last year.”

Shales said there is a strong consumer preference for rainier cherries, though, and supply sometimes doesn’t line up with that demand.

“If there are more rainier cherries available, retailers should look to do more with them because there is consumer demand for more of them,” she said.

Tariffs’ effect

Marketers say exports are a critical part of the cherry season. Shales said that in years with a large domestic and global crop, international markets expand, and those expansions turn into future customers.

“Export markets have always been, and will remain, a fundamental portion of our cherry business,” she said. “We serve many long-term global markets where we have multi-decade and multi-product relationships, which all contribute to a successful cherry marketing program.”

Thurlby said it’s possible that the Northwest will not ship a box of fruit to China or Europe this season and will look to other markets for that volume.

“We will increase our focus from China to more promotions in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia,” he explained. “Likewise, we will continue to run market growth programs in India.”

Marketers say the current tariff market adds a layer of unpredictability to this season’s global market. Hewitt said CMI does not plan to seek out new export markets but will instead look to strengthen relationships with existing customers.

“These recent tariff implementations are impacting pricing and competitiveness for U.S. cherry exporters, prompting a more cautious and strategic approach to international growth this year,” Shales said.

And Shales and Hewitt both agreed that while growers closely monitor the current global market for cherries, growers remain optimistic.

“While we are concerned with the current status of tariffs and their effect on the global market for cherries [and all fruits], we remain confident and committed to all the markets we serve and hope to sell more cherries than ever in those markets,” Shales said.

Retailers see an opportunity this season to capture missed dollars from last year’s shorter cherry crop, says Brianna Shales, marketing director for Stemilt Growers.

(Photo courtesy of Stemilt Growers)

Program previews

Stemilt plans to run its Kyle’s Pick premium cherry program this year. The marketer refreshed the look on its pouch bags, clamshells and top-seals.

“Kyle’s Pick is an R&D-backed program that requires cherries to meet dialed-in flavor and firmness specifications to qualify,” Shales said. “This program runs anytime this top-tier quality fruit is available during the Washington season and is meant to capture the attention of retailers’ most premium shoppers.”

Stemilt will also roll out new packaging for its A Half Mile Closer to the Moon program. The new look features a prominent moon to highlight the growing region of the cherries, Shales said.

CMI also offers its Nature’s Candy program for premium red and rainier cherries, and its American Dream program features patriotic branding for promotional windows such as the Fourth of July. CMI will also offer its XXL Cherry program with jumbo-sized fruit.

“Specialty varieties like Skylar Rae and Strawberry Cherries offer additional standout opportunities with their unique flavor profiles and eye-catching appeal, though availability is limited, making them ideal for limited-time promotions and specialty displays,” Hewitt said.

Riggan said Chelan Fresh will offer its Orondo Ruby cherries again this year in a 1-pound clamshell. He said the Orondo Ruby cherries grow large, so Chelan Fresh packs 15 ounces in the 1-pound clamshell to ensure fruit does not get bruised, offering consumers an optimum eating experience.

“It’s like eating a rainier and a bing cherry at the same time,” Riggan said. “It’s got high acid and high sugar. It’s just a really unique eating experience.”

Chelan Fresh also will offer 9.5-row jumbo cherries in a top-seal. Riggan said these top-seal clamshells are enticing for high-end customers as well as many one-person households. While it’s an extra SKU, it doesn’t cannibalize a retailer’s bagged cherry business, he added.

“They’re not buying 2 pounds of cherries,” he said. “They just want something really good and a smaller quantity.”

Marketing ideas

It’s important for retailers to capitalize on the seasonality of cherries and put a spotlight on cherry season when they’re available, marketers say. Shoppers are busy, and any buzz a retailer generates can help kick off the season right.

Retailers can remind consumers that cherries are in season and available for a limited window. The idea, Riggan said, is to entice consumers to continue to buy cherries a few times throughout the season.

“We really want to get people to buy cherries three or four times a year,” he said. “That’s really critical for success for both retailers and growers.”

Shales said online shoppers shouldn’t be overlooked, either, and retailers should ensure online messaging lets those customers know when cherries are back in season.

Big displays in stores also help drive awareness and sales, she added.

“Since cherries are one of the last seasonal items in produce, it’s important to let consumers know they’re there,” Shales explained. “Build displays front and center in the produce department, preferably in a refrigerated space to ensure cherries stay fresh on the shelf, to drive awareness that these seasonal morsels are back and ready to enjoy.”

Hewitt said retailers should also consider adding smaller secondary displays to help drive impulse purchasing.

“Place smaller cherry displays near high-traffic areas such as checkout lanes or adjacent to complementary categories like ice cream or bakery,” she said. “These secondary placements can trigger spontaneous purchases, especially when cherries are positioned as a seasonal indulgence or healthy treat.”

Hewitt encourages retailers to monitor regional weather updates for late-season shifts and stay in contact with suppliers to align timing, volume and in-store strategy.

Riggan said he doesn’t think retailers need to give cherries away with promotions. He said the industry will see a large volume of cherries from the last week of June into the Fourth of July holiday.

“If retailers will work with the industry and with shippers to lower their retails a bit, and lean in a bit, they can really drive a lot of sales and then finish up strong on the backside, maybe having brought some customers in to the cherry category during that lower price point, and then capturing some higher end sales at the end from people that maybe had a really good experience,” Riggan said.

Thurlby said retailers can also capitalize on health messaging with cherry displays.

“A recent study we did showed that retailers who used health messaging regularly while promoting cherries outperformed similarly priced retailers who didn’t use health messaging by 84%,” he said.

Agragene and Associates Insectary partner on gene editing approach to SWD control

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 14:22:35 GMT

Agragene and Associates Insectary have announced a partnership to advance Agragene’s Knockout SWD technology targeting spotted wing drosophila (SWD), a top pest of fresh berries. Agragene’s technology, still in development, uses gene editing to create sterile male SWD. Associates Insectary, which specializes in high-volume insect production, will rear the sterile males at their Santa Paula, Calif., facility.

Matt Helms, Agragene’s chief commercial officer, says the company reached out to Associates Insectary for a partnership for several reasons, including its respected reputation and extensive expertise. But a shared entrepreneurial spirit is at the heart of the partnership, he said.

“They are looking ahead from a vision perspective and trying to invest their time and partnerships into new technologies that can be game changing. That attracted us to each other,” Helms told The Packer.

A new twist on an old strategy

Both companies see strong potential for future pest control in Knockout SWD. The technology applies the tried-and-true sterile insect technique (SIT) to SWD, but with a twist: gene editing.

“Knockout is basically a gene edited process,” explained Bryan Witherbee, Agragene CEO. “We’re targeting two genes in particular; one that is responsible for female development and one that is responsible for spermatogenesis, or development of sperm.”

The result of this approach is an efficient process to produce only sterile male SWD eggs, Witherbee said. This contrasts with the traditional SIT process. That involves rearing the target pest to adulthood, sorting males from females, then irradiating the males.

While this process has been used effectively for decades, Witherbee called it time-consuming, labor-intensive and expensive. Irradiating the adult males comes with potential issues as well, starting with the impact of irradiation on the insects.

“It’s the same as for humans; it’s hard on you physically,” explained Chris Adams, assistant professor of tree fruit entomology at Oregon State University. Adams led a USDA-permitted experimental release of Knockout SWD in partnership with Agragene last summer.

“[Irradiation] kills and breaks down lots of cells, so there is a fitness cost,” Adams said.

Some of that fitness cost is dead, instead of just sterile, males. But it can also mean the sterile males that survive the irradiation process might not be able to compete against wild males to mate, Adams said.

The materials needed for the irradiation process also come with their own drawbacks. Adams explained most SIT programs use radioactive cobalt, a regulated substance.

“We know this is a very needed product. This is something that growers are anticipating.”

Bryan Witherbee, Agragene CEO

Witherbee sees a lot of advantages to Knockout SWD’s gene editing spin on SIT.

“Once we get the egg made, in terms of the sterile male, we don’t touch them,” he said, so the process sidesteps the drawbacks of irradiation-based SIT. He explained eggs will be packaged together with a food source in a convenient box. This can be placed in orchards or berry farms. The sterile males will develop inside the box until they reach adulthood and fly out to do their work.

Better together to battle SWD

Helms explained that in the planned partnership with Associates Insectary, Agragene will provide the breeding lines, one edited for non-viability in females and one edited for sterility in males, to Associates Insectary, who will then rear, pack and distribute them, something it is well equipped to do.

“Associates Insectary has the processes, controls and expertise to consistently rear our Knockout insect technology solution and is also strategically located in a key market geography,” Helms said in the companies’ joint news release.

Zach Slaughter of Associates Insectary also highlighted his company’s important location in Ventura County, near so many berry farms in California. With so many growers so close, he told The Packer the company has been able to hand-deliver beneficial insects to its customers. Slaughter said Associates Insectary long ago realized the industry needs transparent, reliable suppliers of beneficials.

“So, we quickly knew that we were going to focus on being a reliable producer that is not out to compete against our peer insectaries, but instead collaborate and support. In six months, we have partnered in some fashion with four other beneficial insectaries and providers to contract rear, assisting in stabilizing supply in key beneficials they identified needing production support in,” Slaughter said.

The invasive spotted wing drosophila is studied in the entomology lab at Oregon State University’s Mid-Columbia Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Hood River. The fly is a major new fruit pest.

(Oregon State University Extension photo by Lynn Ketchum. Used under the CC BY-SA 2.0/Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.)

He added that at Associates Insectary, “We truly believe ‘a rising tide lifts all boats,’” a mindset he said Agragene also embodies.

He called the partnership with Agragene on Knockout SWD something of a passion project for Associates Insectary given the compatibility of the two companies’ goals.

“Our mission is to advance the use of beneficials and other biocontrols over the use of harmful chemicals,” Slaughter said. “Outside of the obvious that [Agragene is] producing a beneficial insect and we are a commercial insectary, their focus in providing an accessible and scalable solution for growers as a way to execute their mission compliments ours.”

“The partnership with Associates Insectary enables us to scale our groundbreaking technology and bring it to growers who are desperately seeking insect control solutions,” Helms said in the release.

Tiny flies mean huge problems for berry growers

According to Adams, berry growers are indeed in need of solutions to the SWD problem because it is a massive one. A 2021 report in Entomology Today estimated the damage caused to U.S. fruit growers by SWD at $500 million annually.

“I think they are the biggest threat to soft fruit and berries,” Adams said.

He explained the basics of the SWD. They are relatively new invasive pests. Unlike native or more established berry pests, SWD can attack undamaged or unripe fruit. Worse, they reproduce stunningly fast.

Under the proper conditions, such as the warm months of summer, a SWD can go from egg to adult in seven to 10 days. Females can lay up to 600 eggs during their lifetime. Adults usually live for two to nine weeks but can overwinter under the right conditions.

“They’re survivors, and they do a really good job of making more flies,” Adams said.

The prolific nature of SWD means growers must be rigorous about pesticide application. “If you skip a week and you don’t spray, you end up with infested fruit,” Adams said.

SWD feed on any soft-skinned fruit such as blackberries, raspberries, cherries, strawberries and more. Females pierce the skin of even unripe fruit to lay their eggs.

(Oregon State University Extension photo by Amy Dreves. Used under the CC BY-SA 2.0/Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.)

This causes problems for organic and smaller growers, especially the small “mom and pop” U-pick farms, he said. But it also poses issues for conventional growers on labor, Helms added.

“This is all hand harvested, so the reentry or preharvest intervals — it varies a little bit on these products — really impacts the timing that the farmer can have his harvest crews rotate around to the different fields and maximize the yield opportunity.”

Adams also pointed out the damage SWD do to fruit, and their larva, look like that of the Western cherry fruit fly, a quarantine pest. This causes problems at the packing level.

Hatching spotted wing drosophila larvae feed on fruit before breaching the skin to escape.

(Oregon State University Extension photo by Amy Dreves. Used under the CC BY-SA 2.0/Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.)

“If it ends up in the packing house on the line, and they catch maggots inside of fruit, they have to stop the production line and ID what you have,” Adams said. “And because Western chair fruit fly restricts export of the fruit, you have to reject the whole load. You can’t take the chance.

“So growers hands are kind of tied right now to a very expensive and frequent pesticide application,” he continued. “So that’s why we’re really excited about this new sterile insect release technique from Agragene. It’s another tool; we don’t currently have a sterile insect release technique for spotted wing drosophila.”

A path forward for future pest projects

Helms described growers as throwing the kitchen sink at the SWD problem right now. Witherbee added growers are hungry for tools. They, like Adams, hope their Knockout SWD could be another tool in berry growers’ arsenal.

Though the technology is still in the research phase, Agragene envisions a 12-week program beginning when berries start flowering. This is roughly three or four weeks before wild SWD begin emerging, according to Helms. Growers would receive shipments of the boxed Knockout SWD every two weeks during the program. The boxes would be hung in trees, or on trellises or vines to get the gene-edited flies out into the fields ahead of the wild type.

“Our goal is that this is a foundational program. Kind of like with the COVID curve, instead of letting [SWD numbers] spike, we want to keep it down and push it out,” Adams said. “We believe we can have an opportunity to increase yields, increase quality and likely reduce the need for reliance on insecticides.”

“This is a much more environmentally friendly way to control insects and I just think it’s going to be — once they figure out how to get this to scale — a really exciting technique. And I think it’s going to be a great new tool for growers everywhere.”

Chris Adams, assistant professor of tree fruit entomology at Oregon State University

Witherbee said they project Knockout SWD will be available to growers sometime in 2027. The next step to getting there, however, is an experimental use permit from EPA. He said they expect to submit the experimental use permit (EUP) package within the month. The company is already looking for growers interested in participating in anticipation of the permit.

“Once we do get the approval from the EPA to do the experimental use permit, that opens up the amount of acreage that we can do. We are already kind of reaching out to some early adopters in terms of growers that are interested in trying this out with us.”

While Witherbee and Helms were excited about the potential for specifically the Knockout SWD technology, they both were also very hopeful about what it could mean for the future of the beneficials industry.

“Hopefully, as we work our way through, this truly becomes a template for the next generation,” Helms said.

Though SIT is a decades-old strategy, thus far genetic editing for sterility has only been used on mosquitoes. Using gene editing to produce SIT for agricultural pests is new regulatory terrain. Helms said he was excited to “start paving the regulatory path forward in the U.S. and new countries” with what Agragene is doing.

He added that the company is already thinking about next potential targets for the technology, including olive fruit fly, Mediterranean fruit fly and naval orange worm.

“At least two of those will be moving forward in parallel, but that is going to be a little bit of an evolution for the company,” he said.

Witherbee noted partnerships with insectaries like Associates Insectary will be key to those efforts.

“Hopefully the relationship and the learnings they got from this first one will carry over to the next and second and third insect, as we move these through,” Witherbee said.

Superfresh Growers offers insights for cherry marketing

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 21:26:13 GMT

As cherry season approaches, Superfresh Growers shared consumer insights on April 7 to help retailers boost cherry sales and drive repeat purchases throughout the summer. Understanding how different demographics shop for fresh cherries is critical to a successful season, according to the company, and the latest data reveals both opportunities and challenges.

Shoppers aged 55 and older remain one of the most reliable consumer groups for cherries. Despite fixed incomes, they’re willing to spend more for premium fruit and often prioritize quality over price, especially early in the season.

Meanwhile, millennials (ages 30-45) also love cherries but are driven by value. They tend to gravitate toward retailers with everyday low pricing and respond better to unit pricing over price-per-pound. Simplifying the purchasing experience, like removing the mental math, can be the key to unlocking this group’s purchasing power in-store.

Consumers under 30 aren’t buying cherries at the same rate as other age groups, even during peak-season price drops. While lower overall spending power plays a role, there’s still an opportunity to position cherries as a fun and seasonal treat for this demographic. To capture their attention, cherries need to be positioned where they can be seen as often as possible, such as on social media platforms. Campaigns on these platforms, influencer partnerships and more recipe-driven content that is easy to create could help bridge the gap.

“Cherries have broad appeal across most ages, incomes and ethnicities — when they’re visible,” Trisha Casper, customer insights manager at Superfresh Growers, said in a news release. “The shopping experience early in the season often determines whether consumers continue to buy cherries. A sweet, fresh experience in May and June builds loyalty, but a poor first impression can lose a customer for the rest of the season.”

Convenience is also a critical factor. Many online shoppers miss cherries entirely — not because they don’t want them, but because they don’t see them. With limited in-store visibility, cherries need to be consistently visible on digital grocery platforms. Weekly reminders, recipes and seasonal spotlights can help keep them top-of-mind.

Some shoppers also skip cherries because they’re seen as inconvenient. Retailers can reframe cherries as a grab-and-go snack or simple dessert to appeal to busy customers looking for quick options.

“Every cherry season is unique — shaped by weather, crop timing and consumer demand,” said Destiny Nash, assistant director of cherries at Superfresh Growers. “That’s why intentional merchandising, high-visibility displays, competitive pricing and an omnichannel strategy are key to success. To win this summer, cherries must be both visible and irresistible.”

Superfresh Growers encouraged retailers to lean into data-driven strategies that connect with every type of shopper early in the season.

Tart cherry growers amend federal marketing order

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 18:08:07 GMT

Tart cherry growers and processors have approved amendments to a federal marketing order program, as voted on in a referendum held last year.

These updates include changes to how marketing order volume regulations are calculated, removing the word “processed” for calculating annual production as well as representation and the timing of terms of offices.

The Cherry Industry Administrative Board administers the marketing order, which authorizes implementation of research and promotion programs, quality requirements and regulation of the flow of product to market. The board administers the marketing order locally and consists of 18 members representing producers and handlers in Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.

The USDA said the amendments voted on met the requirement of being favored by at least two-thirds of the eligible producers voting in the referendum or by producers representing at least two-thirds of the eligible volume voting in the referendum. All amendments also met the requirement of being favored by processors that represent at least 50% of the processed tart cherry volume.

The USDA said the vote outcome for each change is as follows:

Amendment 1 — “District representation on the board is based on each district’s maximum production in the most recent five harvest periods rather than utilizing the current 3-year average production for each district by amending Section 930.20.” This amendment was favored by 77.5% of voting tart cherry producers, representing 83.6% of the production volume voting in the referendum. Processors representing 54.6% of the processed tart cherry volume favored this amendment.
Amendment 2 — “Require the term of office to start on June 1 and end on May 31 of the subsequent year instead of the current term of office from July 1 to June 30 by amending Section 930.22.” This amendment was favored by 90.1% of voting tart cherry producers, representing 96.8% of the production volume voting in the referendum. Processors representing 66% of the processed tart cherry volume favored this amendment.
Amendment 3 — “Modify the basis for determining a board member’s sales constituency so sales constituency is determined by the entity that purchased the majority of pounds of the grower’s fruit at the time of nomination and that their sales constituency will remain the same over the term of office for that member by amending Section 930.23.” This amendment was favored by 87.5% of voting tart cherry producers, representing 97.2% of the production volume voting in the referendum. Processors representing 65% of the processed tart cherry volume favored this amendment.
Amendment 4 — “Add language to specify that alternate members may be from the same sales constituency as the member for whom they serve as an alternate by amending Section 930.28.” This amendment was favored by 81.3% of voting tart cherry producers, representing 89% of the production volume voting in the referendum. Processors representing 64.9% of the processed tart cherry volume favored this amendment.
Amendment 5 — “Adjust the timeframe for submitting nominations to USDA from 120 days before the term of office expires to 60 days before the term of office expires by amending Section 930.23.” This amendment was favored by 87.7% of voting tart cherry producers, representing 97.9% of the production volume voting in the referendum. Processors representing 64.9% of the processed tart cherry volume favored this amendment.
Amendment 6 — “Use a 5-year average production instead of a 3-year average production for determining when districts are subject to the marketing order’s volume regulations by amending Section 930.52(a).” This amendment was favored by 85.2% of voting tart cherry producers, representing 91.4% of the production volume voting in the referendum. Processors representing 58% of the processed tart cherry volume favored this amendment.
Amendment 7 — “Remove the word ‘processed’ so that the average annual production is based on all reported production and not just the processed production when a restriction is established by amending Section 930.52(d).” This amendment was favored by 86.4% of voting tart cherry producers, representing 90.7% of the production volume voting in the referendum. Processors representing 66.5% of the processed tart cherry volume favored this amendment.

Stemilt gears up for CPMA show with apple and cherry programs

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 21:52:42 GMT

Stemilt plans to display a variety of fresh offerings — including the Cosmic Crisp apple and its cherry program, Kyle’s Pick cherries — at this year’s Canadian Produce Marketing Association Convention and Trade Show in Montreal, April 8-10.

“CPMA is the largest produce show in the Canadian industry, and we look forward to participating in it again with some of our top-pick programs,” said Stemilt’s Marketing Director, Brianna Shales. She added that attendees can expect to see Cosmic Crisp, Pink Lady, granny smith, gala and Lil Snappers apples on display at the show.

Stemilt said its 2024-25 apple crop shows good color and quality, especially in varieties like Cosmic Crisp and Pink Lady. The grower’s Lil Snappers 3-pound bagged apple program has also benefited from an optimal growing season.

With cherry season around the corner, Stemilt said it hopes for improved weather conditions compared to last year for the season’s offerings ahead.

“While cherries aren’t quite here yet, we look forward to sharing two branded items to delight consumers with this summer, Kyle’s Pick and A Half Mile Closer to the Moon cherries,” Shales said. “Kyle’s Pick cherries are available for a limited window in July and are some of our most premium cherries of the season. They must meet the high quality standards for variety, size, firmness and Brix established by Stemilt’s fourth-generation cherry grower Kyle Mathison.

“For those looking to end the season with a grand finale, A Half Mile Closer to the Moon Cherries are available in much larger quantities than the 2023 crop for the late season in August,” Shales continued. “These cherries are grown 2,600 feet above sea level, or literally a half-mile closer to the moon.”

Stemilt will be at booth No. 2010 where Stemilt sales and marketing personnel will be present to connect with attendees. Displays, signage and other merchandising tools, including new Lil Snappers signage, will all be present as well.

“We’re excited to be present for this year’s show, especially being CPMA’s 100th anniversary,” Shales said. “It’s always been a great place to share ideas and connect with those within the produce industry in Canada. We look forward to contributing as a platinum sponsor again and providing Stemilt lanyards to all attendees. Be sure to visit us to learn more about Stemilt’s ‘world famous’ conventional apple and cherry mixes.”