Canadian Production of Sweet Cherries

Canadian Production of Sweet
Cherries

• Districts
• BC Industry
• Weather
• Tree Training
Introduction
• Harvesting & Fruit Handling
• Marketing
2

Districts
• Ontario
• British Columbia
3

Ontario
75% of sweet cherries in Niagara Peninsula
4

Hectares
600
500
400
300
200
100
Ontario – Production area and value
0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Year
Value
($ '000 Cdn)
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Year
5

British Columbia – value of sweet cherries
Total value
(x 1000 $[Cdn])
18000
16000
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
in 2008 – 1235 hectares
Year
6

British Columbia Cherry Industry
• In 2005 21th most important crop in British
Columbia.
• British Columbia produces 84% of
Canadian production.
• New orchards are being planted however
the rate is slowing.
• Sweet cherry growth increased by 246%
from 1996 to 2005.
7

Growing regions in British Columbia
8

Temperature
( O C)
Average Temperatures
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
-5
-10
Average maximum
Average minimum
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
Monthly Average
September
October
November
December
10

Weather Information
• Total precipitation 32.7 cm
• 1/3 falling as snow
• 2085.1 hrs of sunshine per year
• 316 days with measurable sunshine a
year
11

Rainfall Pattern in Cherry Maturity Period
Total rainfall each week during sweet cherry season at Summerland B.C.
1916 to 2001
Total rainfall per week
(mm)
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
June 30
July 7
July 14
July 21
July 28
Aug 4
Week ending
Aug 11
Aug 18
Aug 25
Sept 1
12

Weather Patterns
13

Changes in the British Columbia Sweet
Cherry Industry

Present Standard Rootstocks
• Mazzard & Colt (limited)
• about 1400 trees per ha
• 4-4.6 m by 1.2 -2 m spacing
16

• Central Leader
Training
• “Spanish” Bush
17

Central Leader
18

Central Leader
19

Spanish Bush
20

Modern Orchard
21

• Previous Varieties
– Van
– Lambert
– Bing
Varieties
• Current Varieties
– Lapins
– Sweetheart
– Staccato
– Sentennial
– Sovereign
22

Picking as it used to be
23

Current picking styles
24

Current (cont’d)
25

Current orchard fruit handling
26

Fruit handling in the orchard
27

Bird Control
28

Co-operative Packing
29

Old Packing Line
30

Cooling Cherries
31

Cooling cherries
32

Bin dumper
33

Fruit Dumping
34

Cluster Cutter
35

Fachaux Stem Separator
36

Fruit Sizing
37

Optical Sizer
38

Fruit Sizing
39

Sorting Room
40

Packing Lines
41

Pipes to Sorting Tables
42

Sorting Lines
43

Sorting Lines
44

Sorting
45

Sorting Fruit
46

Cooperative Packs (labelling)
47

Automatic Bagging Machine
48

Labelling
49

Labelling
50

• Local
• Domestic
– Vancouver
– Calgary
– eastern Canada
• Export
– Taiwan
– United Kingdom
– Netherlands
– United States
– Germany
Current Markets
51

Markets
52

Loading truck bound for Calgary
53

Value of sweet cherry exports from 1990 to
2005
Value of exports
(thousand CDN $)
16000
15000
14000
13000
12000
11000
10000
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006
Year
54

Marketing (cont’d)
• BC Tree Fruits sells fruit for the
cooperative packinghouse
• Majority of fruit sold by independent fruit
brokers
– negotiate price
– deal with logistics
55

Factors Affecting Prices
• Quantity and quality of California and
Washington crop
• Quality of British Columbia crop
• Current economic situation????
56

Quality (fruit size) effects price
• $11.70 (Cdn) increase per 9 kg box for
each row size increase.
• 10-row cherry = 26.6 mm in diameter
• 9-row cherry = 29.8 mm in diameter
• 8 ½ - row cherry = 31.4 mm in diameter
57

• Variety
• Pruning
Factors affecting fruit quality
• Thinning ??
• Gibberellic acid
• Cool-chain
• Modified atmosphere packaging
• Close management of operation
58

Profitability
• 18000 to 22000 kg per hectare
59