Apricots and Cherries Kick Off Stone Fruit Season

The first organic cherries and apricots from California were picked in late April and are now showing up in supermarkets around the country, proving summer is on its way.

“We started picking apricots late last week,” said Stephen Paul, stone fruit commodity manager for Homegrown Organic Farms, Porterville, CA. “They are a nice size and present a nice pack.”

Stephen Paul, Stone Fruit Commodity Manager, Homegrown Organic Farms

The apricot crop should last until mid-June, with Homegrown expecting good organic production of all its stone fruits this season. “We haven’t had any weather problems,” Paul said. “In fact, we had some late rain that was good for the crops.”

Volume of fruit on the trees looks a bit lighter than last season, Paul said, but added that there should be sufficient organic supplies to meet demand, including promotable volumes of all the stone fruit varieties as the season moves on.

“Right now, we have to focus on providing the customer a very good piece of fruit for their very first experience of the year,” Paul said. “We know if the first experience is good, they will come back again and keep coming back, and that’s what we need.”

Paul Poutre, general manager of sales and marketing for Delta Packing in Lodi, CA, noted that his firm’s first cherries were packed on April 19. By the end of the month, it was a seven-day-a-week operation with good volumes daily, though the total crop is expected to be much smaller than last year’s record crop, which ended the season at 10.1 million cartons.

“This year it’s going to be around 50 percent of that,” said Poutre. “I’d say 5 million cartons plus or minus 15%.”

The veteran cherry salesperson was speaking of the entire crop. Organic cherries, he said, represent only about 1 percent of California’s production. “Organic cherries are going to be demand-exceeds-supply all season long.”

“Right now, we have to focus on providing the customer a very good piece of fruit for their very first experience of the year. We know if the first experience is good, they will come back again and keep coming back, and that’s what we need.” -Stephen Paul

In the first couple weeks of the season the conventional market was around $80 for an 18-pound carton, while a carton of organic cherries was in the $110-$120 range.

With the significant drop in volume, Poutre said most of the fruit will be sold by May 20, with the volume sharply declining after that, lasting until around June 10. At that point, the Northwest is expected to join in the game with a greater percentage of organic production.

“Organic cherries are going to be demand-exceeds-supply all season long.” -Paul Poutre

Even though California cherries will be high priced this year because of the much smaller crop, Poutre said the item is still very popular at retail, and some supermarkets will find a way to offer promotional pricing. “They won’t be as aggressive on pricing as they were last year, but they still want to let the consumers know they are available,” he said.

Fruit World Co in Reedley, CA, was already shipping both organic apricots and organic cherries by the last day of April. The company was also operating on an everyday basis, with salesperson Cindy Richter noting the company’s organic cherry harvest was 11 days earlier than 2021, and its organic apricots were harvested seven days earlier than a year ago.

Even though California cherries will be high priced this year because of the much smaller crop, Poutre said the item is still very popular at retail, and some supermarkets will find a way to offer promotional pricing.

“This winter the cherry trees in California received adequate rain and chill portions in all growing districts; unfortunately, this spring we have had several epic weather events that have impacted cherries and apricots statewide,” she said. “During bloom, we had a hard freeze that wiped out one of our organic apricots blocks and impacted the cherry yield. About 10 days ago, there was rain across all growing districts and up to three inches of hail in some major cherry growing areas.”

Cindy Richter, Sales, Fruit World Co.

Cherry harvest, however, has continued, and the orchards are producing nice fruit. “We have been extremely fortunate and are more than halfway through harvest of our earliest cherries from the Patterson area,” Richter said. “These Coral, Royal Hazel, and Royal Lynns have had excellent quality, large peak size, and the demand is strong. Harvest will move into the Bakersfield/Arvin growing district around May 9 with Brook, Coral, and Tulare varietals. With the light crop and high pricing, we are doing our best to keep up with our longtime customers'/partners’ demands, but we will not have enough consistent volume to support ads this season.”

“This winter the cherry trees in California received adequate rain and chill portions in all growing districts; unfortunately, this spring we have had several epic weather events that have impacted cherries and apricots statewide." -Cindy Richter

Fruit World is still selling organic apricots from Blossom Hill ranch in Patterson, CA. “Blossom Hill is family owned for over 100 years and has been growing apricots for over 30 of those years,” Richter said. “Although one of their organic blocks was toasted in the freeze, we have been packing and shipping their delicious Kylese-Cot Apriums and Poppy apricots since April 27. These early sets are very light, although Blossom grows over 10 varietals with a staggered harvest that has historically taken us through June. We are cautiously optimistic that by the end of May our volume will ramp up with the Tri-gem[s] and Wescots, but it's been an especially tough season to predict.”

Richter concluded her comments referring to an axiom that she hopes does not ring true this year: “There’s an old adage that a short crop usually gets shorter—so fingers crossed!”