While New Mexico may not be the first market that comes to mind when you think of cherry production, it is in fact an old market that’s looking to rebuild its presence in the cherry industry.
At Nichols Ranch and Orchards in La Luz, NM, its production has been consistently coming out of the region since the 1940s. “Production in New Mexico peaked in the 1970s and 1980s. There are fewer serious growers now and some of the old families who’d moved on had their farms purchased by hobbyist farmers,” says R.B. Nichols, whose dad Bob Nichols owns the orchard.
Indeed, Nichols’ peak production also happened to be in the 1990s when it was seeing 30,000 lbs. of cherries annually. “But there was a lot of damage from elk and cherry canker and so we’re rebuilding again,” he says. “Right now, we’re averaging about 12,000 lbs. a year and we’re building back up. We’ve put a lot of new trees out.”
Strong 2020 demand
Like most cherries, the season is a shorter one and runs generally from the beginning of June to July 4th. This year though demand has been so great for the cherries that it will likely wrap up a week before.
“This year’s crop was better than last year’s crop. We were on track to have a really good crop last year and then because of the weather, they were ripening later,” says Nichols. “By the middle of June, we were waiting for them to turn still which was unusual. And then a massive hailstorm came through and knocked off 70 percent of the crop and damaged the trees.”
This year’s crop though has been worked through fast. Nichols is largely U-pick and as of last week, 11,000 lbs. of the crop had been picked in four to five days. “It was unprecedented,” says Nichols. “Demand has been going up but this year, it was huge. I’m not sure if the Coronavirus played a role in that everyone’s been cooped up and are out looking for a safe activity to do. Social media has also really helped us get the awareness out about these cherries.”
For more information:
R.B. Nichols
Nichols Ranch and Orchards
Tel: +1 (57) 430-7953
[email protected]
