Tasmanian cherry growers are expecting a crop of around 3,000 tonnes this season, with peak harvest due in the week after Christmas.

Harvesting has begun on some farms, and orchards have escaped the severe frosts that cut back last year’s crop to just 2,000t. Fingers are crossed that the Australian island will steer clear of rain in the next couple of crucial weeks.

President of Fruit Growers Tasmania, Thomas Frankcomb, told local press that, barring weather problems, the campaign is set fair. "… having got through without any frosts or any other damage this year, the potential crop looks good everyone now just hopes they can get through the harvest without too many rain events so there's not too much damage so the potential is certainly there for a big crop," he said.

Other fruit growers are also bouncing back after last year's frosts, Frankcomb added: "People that had severe damage from the frosts in October 2006 ended up with very poor crops and those people have ended up with very reasonable quite big crops of fruit this year so its had a positive impact on the apple crop," he said.

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