Weather driving up Calif. cherry prices
By Rachael Myrow, KQED-TV
Once again, the warm, dry winter threw cherry trees off their game all over the state. California usually delivers the nation’s early season cherries, but with yields down around a third of what they usually are you can expect to pay a whole lot more at the market.
The California Cherry Advisory Board has estimated the crop will be 25-50 percent smaller. That’s serious news for the state’s agriculture industry. Cherries bring in $200 million dollars a year in California.
Jeff Columbini of Lodi Farming is in the northern part of the San Joaquin Valley, so his cherry crop is only down about 50 percent.