Hismain varieties are PARC-


developed varieties Lapin, Sweetheart and Staccato, but he also grows Sovereign and is looking at putting in Sentennial, and a couple of earlier European varieties such asRegina and Kordia. He has strategically planted on very


different sites because of the importance of not exceeding your capacity to pick and pack ripe cherries on any particular day. “You can’t just plan as you go along,”


hewarns. You have to decide ahead of timewhat varietieswill suit themarket you’ve selected and your site, based on ripening dates on that site, picking and packing capacity on those ripening dates andwhatmarkets they’ll be destined for. Ultimately,Geenwill


be harvesting cherries frommore than 500 acres at different elevations and on siteswith different attributes all around the northern half of theOkanagan Valley. Thatwill permit himto harvest


cherries very early in the season from the southwest-facing slope onHighway 33, at a fairly lowelevation—and very late in the season fromhisNorth WestsideRoad orchard,which is located on a higher-elevation bench at 2,100 feet. There, the trees are buried in deeper snow,which keeps them dormant throughwinter and later in spring than atmany of his other sites. His first cherries ripen around July


10,with the last picked in late August or early September.Historically, cherries ripened in theOkanagan over the space of about aweek. By lengthening the season at both


ends,marketing is easier and it spreads out the harvest so not everything is ready to be picked or packed at the same time. Thatworkedwell this year, as theU.S. crop finished a couple of weeks earlier than usual, removing that competition fromglobalmarkets—just as cherries fromhisNorthWestside Road orchardwere headed into the marketplace. Because of the change inmindset


regarding cherries,with newvarieties developed at PARC thatmatured at the early and late ends of the historic cherry season, leadership of the industry has been by independent growers rather than through the co-operative packinghouses. Thatwas partly driven by the need for growers to chill cherries immediately


20


and pack on-site due to the perishable nature of the fruit, compared to apples. Cherriesmust be picked and


consumedwithin threeweekswhile with apples that gap can be as long as ninemonths,Geen explains. “It’s a very different crop.” And, themarket can change rapidly,


both for the good or the bad, depending on forces outside the grower’s control. If the grower has fruit ripening


August 10, though, there’s less likelihoodmarketing itwill be impacted asmuch by fruit grown in adjacent Washington State,while fruit that ripens in Julywill go head-to-headwith fruit fromsouth of the border in the marketplace, hewarned. And, becauseU.S. fruit


ripens earlier than B.C. fruit, prices at the start of the season tend to be set


before B.C. fruit enters themarketplace. That said, he feels there is a strong


windowformarketing early fruit, and newtrees coming into production in the southmean that every year later- maturing fruitwill hit themarketplace, strengthening competition for later- season fruit. Currently, there’s a glut period from


July 5 to 25, but that varies each season withweather.


“In the next 10 years, it’ll be an


interestingmarket towatch,”Geen concludes. As the industry grows, somust


markets. While 99 per cent of Canada’s sweet


cherries are grown in theOkanagan, only about 35 per cent are sold at home, with themajority sold offshore. Canada’s industry is export-driven, unlike that inWashington State,which is 15 times larger. So, it’s particularly important that


B.C. explore and open up export markets such as China,whichGeen believes can “suck up a lot of fruit.” In China, Canadian cherries have a


following. They’re perceived as a better product, he says. Alongwith expandingmarkets,Geen


is trying newprocessing andmarketing techniques,with purchase of a pitter and de-stemmer that allowhimto have fruit frozen by a blueberry packer in the Fraser Valley. The first frozen cherries under his


Jealous Fruits labelwent on sale at Costco outlets this pastwinter, providing an outlet for imperfect fruit, with a stemmissing or aminor defect. “It’s experimental,” he says of the new


diversification of his operation, but the businessman in himinsists on such innovation.


High hope held for China exports B


itwill be fine,”Dendy said. Lake Country growerDavidGeen is chair of themarket access committee of the


BCCA and says it’s hard to say howmuchwill go into thatmarket fromthe coming crop. Last year only about 400 tons of fruitwas shipped into thatmarket fromB.C., but ultimately, it’s hoped that itwill beworth asmuch as $20million annually, as a result of last year’s agreement reached between the Chinese and Canadian governments. “Cherries don’t like hotweather sowe have an advantage over those grown in the


U.S. climatically and growers here aremore hands-on,” explainsGeen.He noted the committee is also looking at exports to Japan, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is in the preliminary stages of negotiations to open trade barriers nowin place to thatmarket. Aswell, he said, there are goodmarkets in theU.S. and Canada, particularly for later-ripening cherries.


— Judie Steeves British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Spring 2014


y all accounts, last year’s pilot program of exporting B.C. cherries directly into China was a success, but the coming year will see some Chinese inspectors back to audit some shipments to overseas markets.


President of the B.C. Cherry Association,Kelowna grower ChristineDendy, says


last year’s pilotwas very positive overall and the report back fromthe Chinesewas very favorable, but theywant to have one or two inspectors here again this year for a limited time. Last year, the inspectorswent around to every farmapproved for the export


programand only about 25 growerswere able to fulfill the requirements. Therewas also a requirement that incubation tests be conducted at the Pacific Agri-food Research Centre to ensure that noWestern Cherry Fruit Flywas present before fruit was shipped. That isn’t being required again this year, saidDendy.Nonewere found. However, records are still a requirement and segregation is still required. “I expect


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