As the cherry harvest continues across the Northwest, it’s not weather, or drought that is having one of the biggest impacts on the size of the crop. Little Cherry Disease continues to devastate growers from the Washington/Canada border down into the heart of Oregon.

“We think we’ve probably lost, just to start the season over one million boxes for fruit, maybe even closer to two million," said B.J. Thurlby, President of the Northwest Cherry Growers. "So, it’s just a factor in keeping the overall large size of these potential crops down a little bit.”

Thurlby noted at this time, LCD is something growers are going to need to face head on, but he added as an industry, they are working on a fix.

“We’ve got a task force working on it, we’ve got the best people in the world, and I mean that literally, studying this and trying to help our growers figure out a way to circumvent it, and avoid it in the future.  So, it’s there, it’s a challenge, it’s just one more thing in our wheelbarrow full of must dos to get this crop down the road.”


If you have a story idea for the Washington Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekmedia.com

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