The Southern Hemisphere cherry season has been a tale of two halves, according to Jon Clark, Total Cherry.
"Chile had a tough season but the extent of the losses differ greatly per region. Some lost 20-30% of the volume while some lost as much as 70%, overall volumes were down and the marketing period was shorter. This was all due to the effects of El Niño," explains Clark.
In South Africa it was very dry, which was not bad for the crop in general but the volume from South Africa is still relatively small. Chile accounts for over 90% of the Southern Hemisphere cherry production.
"What is important now is how this warm weather will influence the Northern Hemisphere crop," says Clark. "The trees need chill units to trigger dormancy and build strength for bearing fruit, but in general temperatures have been at least 5°C warmer than normal, they have had some chill units but not enough."
He goes on to say that the biggest worry is that the trees either have not had enough chill hours to go in to their natural cycle or they start producing flowers, apricot trees started flowering in January which was weeks earlier that normal, "That in itself is not a disaster, but if we then get a freeze or heavy rain it will destroy the flower and the crop will be lost, this is the danger in the first months of the year."
Things have been a bit more normal in eastern Europe where temperatures fell in some places to as low as -20°C over the winter, which is really good for the growers. So it seems maybe only western Europe which has been affected by the abnormal weather, in such a big way. However, we still have a cold month of February to come, so the balance could be restored.
With stone fruit overall, "We may be OK and it will not affect production," states Clark. "But the season will be early, some are saying by as much as two weeks. The Murcia region in Spain may start on 10-15th April, normally we would be importing from Egypt at that time."
Of course an early start will mean an early finish which would cause a gap between the Northern Hemisphere supply and the Southern Hemisphere towards the end of the year.
On a more positive note cherry growers have been planting late Staccato cherries, which are exclusive to Total WorldFresh in various locations in the UK, including Scotland. Clark is very excited about the Scottish plantings as within two years they should lead to production of very late fruit, he hopes to have Staccato cherries as late as October. He admits that this is unknown territory.
The gap at the beginning of the Northern Hemisphere season has been bridged by Spanish growers planting in green houses, but there has always been that gap at the end before the Southern Hemisphere starts but that may be about to change.
"This project has been running since 2012 and we have done a lot of work with root stock and nurseries to get the perfect trees to produce the perfect cherry," explains Clark. "If we are doing this we will do it right! We are on the final part now, this will be industry changing for British cherries this should be the latest route in the UK market. It is exclusive to Total WorldFresh.
