2023 cherry harvest looking optimistic
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 years, 3 months AGO
After a couple of bad years, the 2023 cherry harvest is on track to be one of the largest in recent years, according to the Washington State Tree Fruit Association.
File photo
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | July 3, 2023 1:00 AM
WENATCHEE — The cherry harvest is coming in full this year, according to the Washington State Tree Fruit Association. The weather conditions that have played havoc with some other Washington crops, like hay, have been a real boon for cherry growers, according to Tim Kovis, WSTFA’s director of communications.
“We had that cold end of winter, early spring,” Kovis said. “Early estimates for (harvest) had delayed us about 15-20 days. However, I’ve been talking to some folks around Washington, and they’ve actually said that in the last month, we’ve had kind of ideal growing conditions.”
Last year’s harvest in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Utah combined was about 12.5 million boxes, Kovis said. This year it’s estimated to be nearly double that at 22.2 million boxes. The largest crop the WSTFA has on record is 28 million boxes in 2017, Kovis added.
The quality of the fruit is looking good as well, Kovis said.
“Once it began to get warm at the end of May, things really sped up,” he said. “We were seeing really good cell division and development of cherries. There were some concerns about sizing issues, but those seem to (have lessened) with this nice, warm temperature that we’ve experienced.”
That’s not something that can be said every year, Kovis explained.
“Last year, we got all that snow and rain and wind when a lot of our trees were in bloom and needed to be pollinated. So that was problematic,” he said. “And two years ago, we had that the heat dome right around this time. And that was problematic. Because growers had to do a number of things shifting around harvest schedules, and the heat wasn’t good for cherries to begin with. Every growing season is different, so our members have to be agile in cherry harvest to account for all of the variables.”
Washington is the No. 1 producer of sweet cherries in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and even a bad year here is better than a good year in many other states. But cherries can be finicky little things. They like steady temperatures in the 75- to 85-degree window, Kovis said, and when the heat climbs into the 90s, the trees slow down and are less productive.
The variable schedule has made finding workers to pick the fruit a challenge, Kovis said.
“This year we’re seeing, overall, less of a domestic workforce,” he said. “And the California cherry harvest, they were delayed, and so they’ve gone longer. Some of those workers that have done the cherry harvest in California are now just leaving California to come to the northwest. So that is causing some angst, trying to figure out where you’re going to get your labor.”
Washington growers will have to rely on the H2A guest worker program a little more this year than in the past, he added.
“A number of growers have told me that they don’t have to go to Las Vegas,” Kovis said with a chuckle. “They grow cherries, and that’s enough of a gamble. But so far, things are looking optimistic.”
Joel Martin may be reached via email at [email protected].
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Endless battle
Noxious Weed Control Board works to keep invasive plants under control
MOSES LAKE — Some of the nastiest plants in Grant County were the topic of a class led by Jay Johnson, a consultant with the Grant County Noxious Weed Control Board, Tuesday. The Noxious Weed Control Board, as its name would suggest, is tasked with keeping weeds under control in Grant County. That’s not a small job; the board’s website lists 129 species of noxious weeds that are found around Grant County. A noxious weed is defined as an invasive, non-native plant that threatens agricultural crops, local ecosystems or fish and wildlife habitat, according to the Noxious Weed Control Board. Washington state law requires that these weeds be identified and their spread kept to a minimum, if not completely eradicated. “We’re one of those agencies a lot of people don’t really understand,” Johnson said. “We’re a county office and … our funding is tax-based assessment. When you get your tax bill and you look down at all the expenses that you pay for, there we are.”
BASIN EVENTS: Oct. 16-24
COLUMBIA BASIN — Whether you feel like shopping, crafting, learning or seeing a show, there’s something happening for you this week in the Basin. Oct. 16 ‘My Family (Mi Familia)’ screening Spanning three generations, “My Family (Mi Familia)” is a heartfelt drama that follows the Sánchez family as they build their lives in East Los Angeles. Through love, hardship, triumph, and sacrifice, the film explores the immigrant experience, the strength of family bonds, and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Lowrider show and taco truck before the screening. Sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, EDUBS C/S and the Moses Lake Creative District. $12 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m., film begins at 7 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center Auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Tickets and info: www.cba-arts.org.
Moses Lake author encourages women to look beyond church culture norms
MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake author’s book, “A Christian Woman Striving to Live Her Faith in a Man-Controlled World,” takes aim at the role to which many churches relegate the female half of their congregations. “It’s to encourage women in the faith,” Linda Curran said. “A lot of churches say, ‘Teach Sunday school, do this, do that, but don’t (evangelize.)’" In her book, Curran recounts a time when she moved to a new community and joined a church there. She was surprised to learn that, as a new female member, she had been automatically assigned church cleaning duties. When she questioned it, she wrote, she was met with condescension and her objections were brushed aside. In other churches, she said, women who were capable of teaching were relegated to “women’s ministry.”