In the South Okanagan, cherry harvesting has begun. Picking has started over a week later than usual and thee crop is expected to be slightly smaller after a cool spring hadn't delivered the temperatures needed to ripen up the fruit.
According to Balpreet Gill, the operations manager for Gold Star Fruit Company in Oliver, the growth has started to catch up now thanks to some heat. "The cherries overall, they're eating really well because we have cool nights [which adds] the acidity level and the fruit is low, the sugar is good. The fruit's more of a medium-sized than a large size, which is still good and it's not small, which is the most important part."
"Some orchards are producing quite well and they're at or near full crop. Some orchards have been showing signs of a very light crop under 50 per cent, some orchards are as light as 30 per cent."
Source: cnbc.com