The bad news about this year's Flathead cherry crop is the volume of fruit is about half of last year's production.

The good news is the cherries that survived a late-season freeze are of excellent quality.

An April 27 freeze with temperatures into the mid-20s is to blame for taking an uninvited bite out of this year's crop, according to Brian Campbell, a field representative for Monson Fruit Co., the Washington-based company that processes and packs the Flathead fruit for sale out of state.

"It was the frost and bad weather during pollination that got us," Campbell said. "The June rains were fine. That didn't hurt the cherries any."

Growers who belong to the Flathead Lake Cherry Growers cooperative, which accounts for about three-quarters of the growers in northwestern Montana, have a harvest potential of about 5 million pounds of cherries a year, Campbell said.

Last year's production was roughly 3 million pounds; this year's harvest is estimated at 1.5 million pounds.

Harvest began July 20, and as of Tuesday morning, about two-thirds of the Lambert variety of cherries had been picked.

The picking of Lapin cherries, the other major Flathead variety, begins today. Monson should wind up the harvest by Aug. 5.

"The quality is really good and the price is good," Campbell said, adding that he couldn't divulge price specifics. "We've had no issues with the labor supply. It's been good."

Steve Junghans, a specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency that oversees crop regulations, said he inspected Flathead orchards last week and observed a good-looking crop.

"The size is amazing," he said. "A lot of the crop looks good, even though it's spotty on the east side."

Individual growers can take advantage of government-funded insurance programs to recoup some of their cherry-production losses, and several local growers will tap into that assistance, Campbell said.

After seeing the quality of this year's crop, Junghans speculated that there "probably won't be as many claims as anticipated."

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.