Cherries defy heat, twister

By VINCE DEVLIN of the Missoulian

POLSON - The Flathead Lake cherry crop hung in there this summer, right up until it was time to be picked.

The cherries survived a tornado, extreme heat, and an unusually early season to produce approximately 4 million gross pounds of fruit shipped from the Finley Point Warehouse - not a record, but well above the 2 1/2 million-pound average taken out of orchards around the lake.

"Historically it's not the biggest - I think the biggest ever was 5 million pounds, about eight or nine years ago - but this is the biggest in a long time," said Dale Nelson, president of Flathead Lake Cherry Growers.

The crop had a gross packed value of nearly $5 million - $4,934,926 to be exact.

Nelson said that even though the weather turned both scorching and produced rare funnel clouds during the season, the key this year was near-perfect conditions when the trees were in bloom.

"We had perfect weather during pollination," he said. "It was ideal weather for the bees to work."

Plus, he said, the cherry growers' association made sure members knew they should get water to the trees earlier than normal, and apply more fertilizer in the spring.

"Good horticulture helped support that crop," Nelson said. "We had experts from Washington come in and show us new techniques, and that really paid off."

New test markets with Acme Fruit Pennsylvania, Costco Montana and Safeway Montana also worked well.

A year after the Flathead growers suffered through a "train wreck in the marketplace," as Nelson put it, the growers pre-sold much of their fruit.

"Last year, the overall market went to heck," Nelson said. "There was a lot of bad product out there that started in Washington state. By the time we got to the marketplace, mom and dad weren't buying any more cherries, and they were coming in the front door of the warehouses, but weren't going out the back."

The price got so low, Nelson said, that "it didn't pencil out to pay for picking, packing and shipping."

What started at $1.75 a pound in 2006 was down to 65 to 70 cents a pound by the time the Flathead's crops were ready to be harvested, Nelson said.

This year, growers were paid an average of approximately $1.65 to $1.70 a pound by pre-selling much of their crops in April and May, according to Nelson.

"We had real good success with the test markets," Nelson said.

Reporter Vince Devlin can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at vdevlin@missoulian.com