As the harvest of New Zealand cherries approaches, Jeff Chambers, Sales Manager at Pure Pac said that they have been fortunate with the weather in Cromwell, Central Otago.
"We have been extremely fortunate with the weather in the way that late frosts have missed us and snow fall managed to just stay wide. We are grafting out a large proportion of our Sweetheart volume in order to focus on earlier varieties which means we will have a drop in volume for 3 to 4 years whilst it comes back on, so the focus is to look after customers who have looked after us in the meantime."
Things are looking positive for good sized fruit this year and with the current warm weather, a La Nina weather pattern is forming, it should see accelerated sizing.
"Harvest is currently forecasted for week 50 but should this weather carry on this could be brought forward by a week. Our first varieties are Sonnet, Samba and Santina and as long as it hits export quality we can get a small amount volume away overseas at the same time, however the domestic market is always very hungry pre-Christmas.
"Our main markets have always been Taiwan and SE Asia which will continue however as stated we will be focusing on our main partners. We are extremely excited about our new AI technology in the pack house and getting the freshest, tastiest cherries to market for the 24/25 season."
For more information:
Jeff Chambers
Pure Pac
Tel: +64 21 707 575
Email: [email protected]
www.purepac.nz