An increase in the amount of cherry production under covers in the UK is significantly reducing the risk posed to the harvest by this week’s heavy rainfall. “It is not a good scenario as not only do we have the rain but it is cold as well,” said Graham Basset of Worldwide Fruit. “The crop was probably running slightly ahead, but these conditions will have slowed it down a bit. However, we have got a higher percentage of the crop covered than ever before. Cherries are an extremely fragile crop and there is a risk of splitting, but it is still early days and remember, it is not unexceptional to get rainfall in June.”

Some early varieties are in the multiples already, for example Morrisons has started its UK cherry season a whole two weeks ahead of last year. Unseasonably warm weather, particularly in April, has provided optimum growing conditions, Michael Jackson, soft-fruit buyer at the retailer said.

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