Cherry industry plans for challenge of another big crop

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Cherry marketers said goodbye to 2009 Friday during a presentation on the season before more than 500 cherry growers and industry representatives at the Yakima Convention Center.

Good riddance might be a better term.

Unlike the product itself, the season left a bad taste in the mouths of just about everyone.

A massive record crop of more than 20 million boxes and a short selling season didn't return much, if anything, to growers.

And with tonnage expected to increase in the future as the Northwest industry faces 60,000 acres in production, the premium will be on getting the crop to market in an orderly fashion and boosting promotion, according to B.J. Thurlby, president of the Washington State Fruit Commission and Northwest Cherry Growers.

Thurlby said the focus next year will be expanding a health message, targeting new groups of consumers, expanding retail displays, and pumping up cherry sales overseas.

"We are going to put on a full-court press," Thurlby said at the 67th annual Cherry Institute. "We aren't going to panic. We have a great product."

Shipments in 2009 more than doubled from the frost-damaged 2008 crop and eclipsed the industry record of 14.7 million boxes in 2007.

A delayed bloom caused much of the crop to ripen about the same time. The industry lost the critical July 4 holiday period because little fruit was available.

Thurlby said retailers moved their emphasis to other fruits during the period.

The crush of the harvest season resulted in upwards of 20 percent of production never getting put in a box.

Thurlby said the industry expects the 2010 crop to be smaller after such a large fruit set last year, which should help marketing.

He said a stronger effort will be made with retailers to expand display space and use what he called secondary space, displays in aisles outside the produce department.

The cherry's customer base -- more affluent consumers -- will continue to have money to spend on cherries.

Other demographic groups the industry will target are the millenials, those up to 30 years of age, and what Thurlby called bustling families. Such families are two wage-earner couples with up to five mouths to feed.

He said studies that show the benefits cherry consumption has on type 2 diabetes and prostate health also will be emphasized.

Keith Hu, who handles export promotion for the industry, said overseas sales should continue to grow. The industry shipped 5.7 million boxes abroad in 2009, with the majority to Canada, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

He told the institute audience that economic recovery around the world and a weak dollar should continue to encourage sales overseas.

* David Lester can be reached at 509-577-7674 or dlester@yakimaherald.com.