Cherry harvest underway

She said orchards on Cherry Heights escaped damage from the frigid weather of November.

The yield in that location should be good, she said, even though harvest is about two weeks earlier than usual due to warmer weather during the remainder of the winter and through the spring months.

“We are running seven to 10 days early,” she said.

The situation involving frost damage is grim along Threemile Road and parts of Mill Creek Road, where several thousand trees were killed or heavily damaged by the cold spell, according to Thompson.

Most affected were Sweetheart and Regina trees because these varieties ripen at the end of the harvest season so the trees had not yet gone dormant.

Thompson, who serves as a liaison between 60 farms and OCG, said 40 to 60 percent of crop potential in these locations will be lost this year.

She said production is going to be down on damaged trees for the next two to four years and new plantings will take seven years to reach maturity.

Having harvest come early this year is an advantage on the market side, said Thompson, because California was also early and will wrap up its fresh fruit sales just as Oregon begins shipping fruit to stores.

“Right now the market has strong demand and, as long as everyone picks great quality, I think we’ll be fine,” she said.

A challenge caused by the early picking season is that some of the 5,000

laborers coming from California still have children in school.

And it is too late in the academic year to get them enrolled in area schools, which will wind up classes on June 12.

During the summer months, a Migrant Education program provides a place for children, who are not legally allowed to be out in the orchards, to continue learning and engage in activities.

Thompson said everyone has been scrambling to get that and other programs up and running to meet the needs of seasonal workers. She said La Clinica del Carino, which provides medical and dental care, and other organizations are also geared up to provide services.

“This community is really behind its migrant population,” she said.

Another potential concern with an early growing season, said Thompson, is that cherries have been more at risk for damage from late-spring rains.

“We’re had a couple of scares from light rains that people were keeping an eye on but, knock on wood, we’ll be okay now,” she said.

Weather that is too hot can also be a problem because cherries ripen too fast and can lose quality before they are picked, according to Thompson.

“Eighty-five is the perfect ripening weather for sizing,” she said.

That is the optimum temperature for a tree to produce nutrients.