Heat is cherry growers’ biggest nemesis, and they’re already preparing for this summer

Cherry growers are looking ahead to this season, but weather will be a big variable this year.

Growers dealt with a lot of heat waves last year, which led to twice as much fruit at one time.

“That heat pushed that fruit forward and we had a week of it right over the 4th of July. You know, and that’s just a sustained issue that, as an industry, there’s not a lot we can do, but there are mitigation tactics that our scientific community is working on and, you know, I think it’s going to be critical moving forward no matter what,” said BJ Thurlby.

Thurlby tells aginfo.net that temperatures in the 90s are tolerable for cherries but it is a different story when the mercury hits triple digits.

Related Stories
NRECA CEO Jim Matheson joins us to discuss rural electric co-ops’ push for expanded USDA loan programs, rising energy demand from data center expansion, wildfire mitigation and other policy priorities impacting rural power infrastructure.
Farmland outlook is tracking closely with producer confidence, investment appetite, and financial expectations.
StoneX’s Josh Linville discusses USDA’s efforts to boost domestic fertilizer production and his outlook on supply and prices.
Tennessee corn and soy farmer Josh Ogle joins us to discuss rapid planting progress in the state, improving moisture conditions, and early crop development challenges in the MidSouth region.
Paul Neiffer joined us to explain how USDA’s base acre expansion will be calculated, outline key deadlines for farmers, and discuss how the changes tie into farm program decisions and the broader Farm Bill outlook.
Chad Fiechter joins us to discuss Purdue’s precision ag study, challenges in capturing value from technology, and what farmers should consider when investing in and adopting these tools.

LATEST STORIES BY THIS AUTHOR:

Her songs reflected her pride in her rural Kentucky background and made her a Country Music Hall of Famer.
We gathered our favorite farming podcasts!
Hollywood celebrities may attend movie premieres and other red carpet events filled with big city lights. Still, a few grew up on several acres surrounded by animals and rolling fields. Here are eight notable figures in film and television who grew up on a farm.
Chip Carter stops by the studio to talk about his show’s new time slot and why produce leaders are gathered in Nashville.
Agriculture Shows
Hosted by Scott “The Cow Guy” Shellady and RFD News Markets Specialist Tony St. James, Commodity Talk delivers expert insight into the day’s ag commodity markets just before the CME opens. Only on RFD-TV and Rural Radio SiriusXM Channel 147.
A look at the news, weather and commodities headlines that drove agriculture markets in the past week.
Everything profits from prairie. Soil, air, water — and all kinds of life! Learn how you can improve your land with prairie restoration, cover crops and prairie strips, while growing your bottom line.
Special 3-part series tells the story of the Claas family’s legacy, which changed agriculture forever.