An oversupply of small cherries last season hurt growers financially. Fifty-six percent of the Pacific Northwest’s fresh sweet cherry crop was in sizes 11 to 12 row, compared with only 45 percent in 2005. While the percentage in 2006 was similar to the 2002 crop, the difference was that this was a much bigger crop, Mel Omeg, a cherry grower in The Dalles, Oregon, told growers at the north central Washington Stone Fruit Day in January. The 2006 fresh cherry crop was close to 15 million boxes, up from only 8 million in 2002. “This was the first time we […]