Yet last Tuesday morning, the parking lot of the Monson Fruit Co. cherry shipping plant on Finley Point was almost empty.
The school for migrant workers' children in Polson was closing up early for lack of students.
“We have had fewer workers” so far this summer, said Todd Erickson, of the Polson Job Service. “The only reason we can see is that the Washington and Oregon crops came in later, so workers are still picking there.”
Meanwhile, down at the Lake County Courthouse in Polson, an orchard manager came through the hallways giving away sacks of fresh cherries to county employees.
Giving away cherries? Not a good sign at harvest time.
From all reports, the 2006 cherry crop in the Flathead is one of the best in recent years in terms of fruit production, despite some scattered hail damage this spring.
So cherry producers in the Flathead Cherry Growers Association, the marketing cooperative which represents most of the commercial growers and about 65 percent of the producing cherry trees in Montana, were stunned to learn that Monson Fruit Co. of Selah, Wash., would cull - that is, refuse to pay for - much of the fruit, especially the old standby Lambert cherries.
Monson contracts with the growers' cooperative to pack and market cherries. It hydro-cools cherries at the former packing plant on Finley Point, then ships them by truck to its plant in Washington, where the fresh cherries from Montana are combined with cherries from Washington and sold to wholesalers across the nation and throughout the world as fresh Northwest cherries.
Monson isn't saying publicly why, or even if, it is refusing Montana cherries this summer. Despite repeated inquiries, Monson representatives in Lake County and Selah, Wash., refused to talk last week.
Dale Nelson, president of Flathead Cherry Growers, refused to discuss specifics of the Monson culling decision, or its impact on the harvest plans of individuals in the association.
Several association members also wouldn't talk on the record with the Missoulian. But some acknowledged privately they have decided not to harvest their Lamberts this year, since Monson isn't buying. The cost of picking the Lamberts and trying to market the cherries locally would be more than they were worth, they said.
Others have put out U-pick signs at their orchards, and many more roadside stands are selling cherries this year than last.
Nelson acknowledged that there have been some unanticipated issues with Monson this season.
“We have had a lot of hot weather; some of the varieties of cherries don't survive the heat as well as others,” especially for a fresh-fruit product that must be refrigerated and shipped long distances to market, he said.
But Nelson said this year's harvest is especially good, and local consumers can buy all Flathead cherries, including Lamberts, Lapins and others, with confidence that the fruit will be in excellent condition.
“Basically, we have a lot of good fruit this year,” he said. “We have a lot of people coming up from Missoula, Great Falls and other places buying cherries. There's a lot of U-pick orchards and there's a lot of roadside stands.”
The Flathead cherry crop has traditionally held a valuable niche in the national market as the end-of-the-season crop of fresh cherries. Often, the late-season crop from the Flathead brings premium prices.
For example, the Montana cherry harvest was 1,230 tons in 2005, 48 percent below the 2004 production of 2,360 tons and
40 percent lower than the 2,060 tons produced in 2003, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
But the value of production for the small crop of 2005 was $4.2 million, compared with $4.5 million in 2004 and
$3.2 million in 2003.
This year, the Washington cherry crop may be a record, but it was late by two weeks, according to B.J. Thurlby, president of the Northwest Cherry Growers Association in Yakima.
Meanwhile, the Montana crop, boosted along by unseasonably hot weather, came in a week or so early.
That means there is a glut of cherries on the market right now, and Montana has lost its late-season advantage, because Washington cherry production dwarfs Montana production. The Washington sweet cherry crop is forecast at 150,000 tons this year; Montana's production was 2,000 tons or so in recent years.
Worse, Washington cherries did not ripen in time for the Fourth of July holiday, which is the big event for Washington cherry marketing in normal years, Thurlby said.
“We came out of the Fourth of July with more (unsold) cherries than we'd hoped,” Thurlby said last week. “We have 11 million boxes shipped and 2 1/2 to 3 (million) to go.”
No wonder cherry packers in Washington aren't too interested in Montana's cherries this July.
There is not a cloud without a silver lining, though, even in the highly unpredictable and risky business of Flathead cherry production. And for the few organic cherry producers of Montana, it's still a good season.
Organic cherry producers were banned by Monson from shipping cherries to its plant in Washington because of Monson's fear - unjustified, organic growers say - that their cherries might contain fruit flies.
That encouraged the Flathead's organic orchardists to develop and diversify their own markets, mostly within the state of Montana.
For example, Heidi Johnson of The Orchard, an organic producer at Yellow Bay, has been pitting cherries at the Mission Mountain Market in Ronan, and then drying them for sale in specialty stores.
“There's a huge demand for dried cherries but they are a pain to make, which is why they are so expensive,” she said.
And on Finley Point, right next door to the Monson plant, Lise Rosseau, helped by her husband Albert Silva, have been growing and marketing certified organic cherries for the past four years.
“We have our market diversified, and there's plenty of business within the state,” Rosseau said as she packed boxes into her truck.
About half of their production goes to a winery in Missoula, and most of the other production is sold to Montana customers who prefer organic products.
Reporter John Stromnes can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at jstromnes@missoulian.com
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)