Even considering its recent phase of underproduction, California remains one of the best places in the world to grow and harvest cherries. Producing distinctive rich fruits, the state remains the first in the world to produce the fruit naturally, ahead of any European country. As the first cherries to hit the UK market, the fruit dominates the supermarket shelves and can command premium prices.
The microclimate and the fact that growers have been harvesting cherries there for more than 100 years combine to make California an ideal place to grow the fruit, commanding a massive domestic market as well as exporting. Strict US and EU regulations concerning harvesting, packaging and transportation govern the export process, ensuring the stonefruit reaches the UK market in top condition. Once the cherries are picked they are immediately cooled and washed, and are ready for the markets.
Comprising more than 400 growers, farming a total of 26,000 acres, the Californian Cherry Advisory Board (CCAB) promotes Bing, Rainier, Lambert and Van cherries and works with most of the UK’s leading multiples. The CCAB has again appointed the NGM marketing consultancy to promote the new crop, and chief executive Neil Gordon is currently setting up tasters and other promotional activities. “The arrival of the big, dark red cherries virtually kicks off the UK cherry season. Their appearance brings a new attraction to fresh fruit displays,” he says. “Californian growers have been sending Bings for well over a decade, and the fruit has built up a cult following. Once they go on sale in supermarkets they just walk out of the store.”
Retailers tend to agree. Leading UK supermarket Somerfield sells the Brooks, Bing and Tulare varieties of Californian cherries and new-season fruit will be available to its customers on May 5. Alistair Swan, category buyer for grapes, melons and cherries for Somerfield, says: “Our customers use the start of the Californian cherry season as the barometer to indicate the start of the summer. We will initially only sell the produce in selected stores, however as availability improves we will open it up to more outlets.”
The Californian cherry industry is looking forward to producing a crop that will run to full capacity, after a disappointing lack of produce in the last couple of years. According to Mike Rucier, exports promotions manager for Bryant Christie Inc, which promotes Rainier and Bing cherries in nine countries, (including the UK) for the CCAB, there had been a massive reduction in productivity in the last two seasons, causing a shortage of Californian cherries on the UK market, but now there is a change on the way. “The production decrease was due to the bad weather conditions. Now we are concentrating on a consistent crop again and looking towards a solid season,” he says.
Even allowing for the natural lulls in production, the figures from the past three years speak for themselves. In 2004, more than 131,000 18lb boxes of Bing cherries were exported to the UK, in comparison to 60,021 in 2005 and just 14,915 last year. However, this year production seems to be back to a healthy volume and all involved are looking forward to a good season.
Cherry importer JO Sims has always relied on Californian cherries to form part of its supply for the early part of the summer season in the UK. Jon Clark, fruit buyer for the company, has witnessed the changeability of the Californian stonefruit over the years. “Demand for cherries has increased dramatically in the UK recently. However, Californian cherries, through adverse weather conditions, have had lower sales here over the last two years,” he says. “But, the weather has been good and this year the Californian dream is back on.”
Somerfield is very much in touch with the situation but shares the optimistic opinion circulating. “Growers last year experienced a complicated season with a much later start than planned, which unfortunately coincided with the start of the Spanish season. However, this year we expect to see a tenfold increase in the volumesold,” says Swan.
So with volume predicted to be back on track, can California cherries expect any competition? Deborah Olson, fourth generation of family business CJ Olson Cherries, does not think so. “We are the first to globally produce cherries in a large volume. California starts first and the market loves the first of anything,” she explains. “Personally, I did not export to the UK last year, as it was not a typical year. We are hoping this year will be much more normal.”
Rucier echoes this, agreeing that the UK tends to provide an earlier market. He says: “Once Turkey starts supplying, we get a bit of competition on price. But the Bing cherries are higher quality than Spanish produce. We really launch the fresh cherry season in the UK, as our other varieties of cherries start earlier”.
Currently in the middle of the harvest, Californian cherry growers generally divide their crops into two parts; the early varieties such as the Brooks and Tulares are harvested first, accounting for around 20 per cent of production, and the remaining 80 per cent has a slightly later harvest and is entirely made up of the Bing variety. Rucier says, “The Bing harvest begins mid-May and gears up around the last week of May, but June is the peak time”.
With Californian cherries being the first on the market as well as offering good quality, UK consumers seem willing to pay for that first taste of summer. “Being the first cherries into the marketplace, there is a high demand which creates a high price and retail price is typically around 1000p a kilo, with larger fruit commanding a higher price still,” says Clark. “The fruit from California is generally firmer and sweeter than the early European fruit, which tends to be of Burlat type varieties which, with softer flesh and a weaker flavour, are not as popular”
Although the Bing variety remains top of its tree, dominating the Californian cherry market in the UK, the last decade has seen major changes in the cherry business with Californian growers creating a new market for themselves in May and June by planting new varieties that ripen early. New varieties, like the bright-red Brooks cherry, are now major players in the market and are grown in the south of Fresno, a region of central California’s San Joaquin Valley previously considered too warm to grow the fruit.
Olson says that the new cherry varieties will always be worked upon within the industry in a bid to make it more sustainable. She says: “They are always trying to develop a cherry that will be resistant to rain cracking and mildew and conducive to low chill, as the microclimate is always changing”.
With changes working towards the future of the Californian cherry industry, it seems that little can go wrong. And an earlier season can only impress the UK market, which seems to be taking its carbon footprint increasingly seriously. Clark realises this problem but maintains that the UK market will not be rejecting Californian cherries anytime soon. “With the pressure to reduce carbon emissions, airfreight is not ideal but at the time they are the best cherries available. Shipment by sea is not possible as they would arrive during the main part of the European season,” he says.
Even though predictions for the coming season are good, growers and exporters alike fear a change in the weather and a repeat of the previous years. “I predict this to be a super year, and a nice crop, with good quality fruit and enough supplies to meet demand,” says Olson optimistically. “Of course, this is assuming we don’t have any weather issues.”
However, Rucier is more positive than ever, maintaining that any poor seasons are behind them. He says: “It seems a very good season for the crop, returning to the performance it is capable of. The weather has cooperated over the winter with some chill hours. It was cool in spring but it is now getting hotter with the summer approaching.” He adds: “The hot temperature last weekend has knocked some of the early cherries, but not enough to make any kind o impact on the overall volume expected.”
Clark echoes the positive vibes coming across the Atlantic. “The weather is key, and at the moment it could not be better for California,” he says. “They had some rain last week, but that has passed without a major effect on the overall crop and the forecast going forward is good. I predict a season of good volumes and fruit with a good flavour.”
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