Okanagan cherry farmers are anticipating a banner year for international exports as up to 80 per cent of the valleys cherries are now being shipped to overseas markets.
“We’ve got more demand than we can possibly meet,” said David Geen, owner of Coral Beach Farms in Lake Country. "
It is resulting in higher returns for producers as Chinese consumers are willing to pay a premium price for a premium product.
“We tend to get more moderate temperatures, which means bigger fruit, sweeter fruit, juicier fruit. And also the fact that we are a long ways north puts us into the August marketing window when the U.S. is pretty much out of the game,” said Geen.
Two years ago, BC struck a trade deal to allow cherry producers unfettered access to the lucrative Chinese market.
A record $29.7 million worth of BC cherries were shipped to China in 2015 but that plummeted more than 40 per cent to $16.8 million last year due to widespread crop damage.
