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CapitalPress.com
June 3, 2016
Lighter PNW cherry harvest underway early
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Elias Pablo dumps Tieton cherries from his picking bucket into a
bin at Lyall Orchards in Desert Aire, Wash., on May 25. Early cher-
ries often are exported to Asia. Washington has an added export
opportunity since California’s exports fell short.
Wash. cherry growers have
good export opportunities
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
RICHLAND, Wash. —
Washington cherry growers
have good opportunity for
exports after California fell
short of its normal exports.
California finished cherry
sales over the Memorial Day
weekend of a crop cut in half
by rain damage. That and a
strong dollar diminishing for-
eign buying power held Cali-
fornia cherry exports this sea-
son to about 25 percent of the
crop, B.J. Thurlby, Northwest
Cherry Growers president in
Yakima, said at the Five State
Cherry Commission meeting
in Richland on May 25. In the
past, California has exported
50 percent of its crop, he said.
“Washington should have
good opportunity for ex-
ports,” Thurlby said.
Early California districts
around Bakersfield usual-
ly have a high percentage of
exports with the Brooks vari-
ety, but rain reduced quality
and kept exports down, said
Tate Mathison, sales desk di-
rector at Stemilt Growers in
Wenatchee. The company’s
subsidiary, Chinchiolo Stemilt
California, in Stockton, picks,
packs and markets California
cherries.
The Pacific Northwest,
chiefly Washington, exported
5.9 million, 20-pound boxes
of cherries, 30.7 percent of its
crop, in 2015. The estimated
gross wholesale value was
$284.5 million, according to
the Northwest Cherry Grow-
ers 2015 annual report.
With domestic sales, the
crop totaled 19.3 million box-
es worth $826.7 million.
Canada was the top export
market at 1.9 million boxes
valued at $91.7 million. China
with Hong Kong was second
at 1.7 million boxes for $86.9
million.
Other top markets: South
Korea, 761,000 boxes; Tai-
wan, 406,000; Mexico,
238,000; Japan, 233,000;
Australia, 145,000; and Unit-
ed Kingdom, 119,425.
Northwest Cherry Growers
budgets $1.7 million on ex-
port promotions and the prior-
ities are China, South Korea,
Southeast Asia and Mexico,
said Keith Hu, Northwest
Cherry Growers international
program director.
Japan, Taiwan, the UK,
Europe, Australia and Brazil
are not great priorities be-
cause of the exchange rates,
poor economies and the “tim-
ing of our product this year,”
Hu said.
Taiwan is a “problemat-
ic” market because of lack
of buying power, minimum
residue levels of pesticides
and its maturity as a market,
he said.
“We have over 3,200 retail
stores in the world committed
to promoting Northwest cher-
ries,” Hu said.
Roadblocks
are
the
strength of the dollar, a glob-
al economic slowdown and
price pressure from Turkish
cherries “overflowing” into
Western Europe and China, he
said. “We could have a short
window of opportunity in Eu-
rope this year. Three shippers
have plans to go in. We hav-
en’t finalized European pro-
motions yet.”
RICHLAND, Wash. —
Pacific Northwest cherry
growers have started their
earliest harvest on record and
hope rain and excessive heat
stay away from a light crop.
The 2016 crop is estimat-
ed at 18.3 million, 20-pound
boxes by the Five State Cher-
ry Commission that met at the
Red Lion Hanford House Ho-
tel in Richland on May 25.
The forecast is down from
estimates earlier this month of
20.7 million and 19.8 million
boxes. It’s also down from the
2015 final of 19.3 million and
the record of 23.2 million in
2014.
“We think this is a moder-
ate crop. We know Rainier is
shorter than last year and ear-
ly Bing is especially down,”
said B.J. Thurlby, president
of the industry promotional
arm Northwest Cherry Grow-
ers and the Washington State
Fruit Commission in Yakima.
Thurlby blamed the reduc-
tion on a “weird, flash bloom,”
a compression of bloom tim-
ing. But he said a record 548
degree days between earliest
and latest growing areas indi-
cate good harvest spread.
The first Chelan and Tieton
cherries being picked look
great, he said.
John and Debra Doebler,
growers at Sentinel Gap north
of Mattawa, began picking
Chelans May 18, their earliest
start ever and five days earlier
than last year. They were the
first in the state both years and
their cherries were the first
packed, May 19 this year and
May 24 last year, by Stemilt
Growers LLC in Wenatchee,
the nation’s largest sweet
cherry producer.
“We bloomed four days
later than last year and began
picking five days earlier. The
key was warmer than normal
nighttime temperatures,” said
West Mathison, Stemilt pres-
ident.
Maturity at the Doebler
orchard also is aided by heat
reflected from basalt cliffs.
“It’s just been hot. All I can
say is I’m excited to be done,”
Debra Doebler said.
It normally takes about
two weeks to pick their 30
acres of cherries.
A few miles to the south at
Desert Aire, grower Charles
Lyall began his third day of
picking on May 25. He had 90
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Andreas Licona, foreman at Lyall Orchards in Desert Aire, Wash., shows how sparse Tieton cherries
are on a tree.
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Rafael Tellez picks leaves out of a bin of Tieton cherries at Lyall
Orchard in Desert Aire, Wash., on May 25, before they are trucked
to Blue Bird Inc. in Wenatchee for packing.
pickers for 110 acres and they
were finishing Tieton trees
quickly because cherries were
few per tree.
“Our Bings are especially
light. Everyone’s scratching
their heads. I’ve thought it
might have something to do
with last summer’s heat mess-
ing up buds,” Lyall said.
Two streaks of 100 de-
gree-plus days last June ac-
celerated harvest, glutted the
market after the Fourth of July
and depressed prices.
Thurlby said he hopes
such June heat doesn’t happen
again but that some people
think it will.
“Cherries are great in the
90s and can absorb the low
100s, but it’s a tough road at
110,” he said.
With harvest of 10 million
boxes anticipated in June and
12 million before the Fourth,
ad prices of $1.99 to $3.99 per
pound are needed in mid-June
through July 20, Thurlby said.
“The key is to keep the
train rolling,” he said. “Peo-
ple lose interest. Retailers lose
faith when they don’t get the
volume they want.”
It will be a challenge to
build sales momentum be-
cause early volume will be
light, he said.
“I think the later you go
the more normal the crop gets.
Demand right now is pretty
extraordinary. We need fruit
that tastes good and moves
through retail shelves,” said
Mike Wade, manager of
Columbia Fruit Packers in
Wenatchee.
“We need to pick good
quality, not too green or too
soft,” said Gip Redman, vice
president of field services, Or-
egon Cherry Growers, Salem.
Oregon growers are ea-
ger for a better crop after last
year’s half crop due to a No-
vember 2014 freeze.
“With cooler weather this
week, I think our early stuff
will be the 31st (of May) and
the first. I think we’ll be 20 to
30 percent up from last year,
not quite full crop yet,” said
Megan Thompson, chair-
woman of the Oregon Sweet
Cherry Commission.
The Oregon delegation
forecast: 6,000 tons for Hood
River, up from 4,860 last year;
22,000 tons for The Dalles, up
from 16,766; and 1,000 for
Milton-Freewater, up from
158 for a total of 29,000 tons
compared with 21,784 in
2015 and 40,246 in 2014.
Washington growers fore-
cast a total of 152,000 tons
compared with 165,267 in
2015 and 185,968 in 2014.
The Wenatchee district is
estimated at 80,000 tons and
the Yakima district at 72,000.
“Rainiers and dark sweets
are down. We think there
will be compression and our
number may be lower,” Norm
Gutzwiler, a Wenatchee grow-
er, said of the Wenatchee dis-
trict.
Idaho is forecast at 2,000
tons, Montana at 1,700 and
Utah at 200.
The Five State Cherry
Commission adopted an $18
per ton grower assessment for
promotions.
Ranchers say outgoing Idaho Cattle Association leader will be greatly missed
Capital Press
BOISE — Cattle industry
leaders say Wyatt Prescott,
who led the Idaho Cattle As-
sociation as executive vice
president for six years, will be
sorely missed.
Prescott recently an-
nounced he is stepping down
from that position.
“Most people in the indus-
try consider Wyatt to be one
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of the best (ICA executive
vice presidents) ever,” said
Leadore rancher Carl Lufkin.
“He has done an outstanding
job during his tenure there. I
don’t know how we’ll ever
replace him, in my opinion.”
“Wyatt has done so much
for us it’s hard to single out
one thing,” said Rogerson
rancher Jared Brackett. “He
did a lot of things well. We
will definitely miss him.”
Brackett, Lufkin and
Leadore rancher Carl Ells-
worth, all past ICA presidents,
said one of Prescott’s greatest
achievements was greatly
increasing membership by
proving to ranchers that they
were getting something in re-
turn for their dues.
Lufkin said ICA mem-
bership has almost doubled,
to more than 1,000, during
Prescott’s tenure.
“Wyatt’s people skills and
his job quality has brought
a lot of confidence back to
membership,” Ellsworth said.
Prescott helped create the
ICA’s annual grass futurity, a
fundraising contest that pulls
in about $40,000 a year for the
group that is used to provide
scholarships.
“He was the brainchild be-
hind that,” Brackett said.
Prescott said he is leaving
his ICA position to get his
family, which includes wife,
Christie, and their two young
children, closer to his own
ranching roots.
“My end goal is to get my
family closer to the land and
the cattle, which is how I grew
up,” he said.
Prescott will also con-
tract with the University of
Idaho to help complete and
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Wyatt Prescott, the outgoing executive vice president of the Idaho
Cattle Association, right, chats with Michael Parrella, dean of the
University of Idaho’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences,
during a May 20 going-away party.
then manage the Rock Creek
Ranch project. The 10,000-
acre ranch in Blaine County is
owned by the Nature Conser-
vancy and Wood River Land
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The goal is for the ranch to
have a memorandum of un-
derstanding with UI that will
allow cattle-related research
to be conducted there.
Lufkin said Prescott was
instrumental in helping for-
mulate that plan. “I know
he’ll do a great job there.”
“We’re hopeful there will
be some research and data
come out of there that will
really help the industry, es-
pecially on the sage grouse
issue,” he said.
Prescott said he will con-
tinue to be involved in policy
development issues on behalf
of agriculture during Idaho’s
legislative sessions.
He said one of the high-
lights of his time at ICA was
getting “to work with and be
on the best operations in the
state of Idaho. I got to learn
from the best of the best and
that’s been a real pleasure.”
“Getting to know this net-
work of people that make up
Idaho’s cattle industry is like
no other opportunity you
could ever have,” he said.
“It’s been a real honor.”