Business & Tech

Weird Weather Puts Local Fruit in Peril

A second year of cool weather has ruined many crops.

Ralph Santos walked amid the 250 acres of cherry trees at El Camino Packing, stopping briefly to pluck off a fruit and pop it in his mouth. He’s the third in a line of “Ralphs,” and the 31-year-old speaks with the ease and knowledge of a third-generation farmer.

It’s not long before Santos directs his attention to a particular cluster of sagging Bing cherries that hangs nearby. He turns them over–almost every one has split open, and some have started to mold.  He points out several more, and it becomes clear that most of the cherries on this tree have swollen and cracked.

“This last rain really hurt us,” he said, “It’s going to be a short season.”

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This year’s late-season rains and cool temperatures have wrecked havoc on these local cherry crops, causing the once-a-year fruits to burst and become exposed to mold. Hail has scratched their skins and wind has bruised them, and while the survivors are still delicious, Santos said that he is expecting up to 70 percent to be unusable.

“We’ve learned a lot about insurance over the past few years,” he said with a laugh.

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Cherries can only absorb so much water, he said. In a good season, the rains come early, and the fruits absorb water while their skins are still young and elastic. Those skins begin hardening in early May, when rain is usually a distant memory and Gilroy bakes in the sun.

Those typical years are ideal for cherries, and several growers have made their home in the area. Large-scale operations include Borrelo Farms, Buckley Orchards and the Van Dyke Ranch, with a number of smaller growers existing in the area as well.

Yet the recent cool and fluctuating weather has caused many cherries to mature late, giving the tree-ripening fruit more time in the elements and a greater chance of absorbing too much water, said Santos.

“The longer you expose the crack to the air, the bigger chance you have for mold,” said Santos.

Last year was also difficult, but Santos said that this year is one of the worst. While they get between 3–4 tons per acre on a good year, the farm is expecting only one ton per acre this season.

The company also operates a cold/dry storage division, which, with crop insurance, helps it to remain profitable. 

“We’re lucky. If you were really relying on this crop, you’d be having a hard time,” he said.

Another local grower, the Van Dyke Ranch, has around 50 acres of cherries. Fourth-generation farmer Eric Van Dyke said that their slow-grow approach meant they had younger, more elastic cherries when the rains hit, leaving the crop undamaged.

“We didn’t really have a cracking problem, because our cherries are way behind,” he said.

It was the apricots that took a beating–when 21 consecutive days of rain hit their blooms in March, the Van Dykes lost 80 percent of their 75–80 acres to rot, he said. This year, they’ll be importing organic apricots for their drying business.

"There's an old farmer down the street–he's 98 years old, and he said he's never seen a winter like this," said Van Dyke.

The lower yields can have a ripple effect in the regional economy. Santos said he recently hired only 30 of the usual 200–300 people he employs to help pick cherries, and even that was too many.

The effect includes distributors, too–while Santos’ cherries might make it as far as Japan in a good year, he said the expects that those companies will keep the fruit close to home.

Despite the decreased yields, Santos said that he likely wont raise prices this year. It would take too much to bridge the gap left by the unsellable crop, and he expects to be able to break even.

Even so, with cherries, you only get one shot–each tree only produces fruit once a year. Strawberries are susceptible to similar problems, but they can produce several fruits in a season.

“You just miss out on what you could have had,” he said. 

"We'd rather have the crop than the insurance money," said Van Dyke.

Despite the challenges, Van Dyke said that he expects to have fresh cherries available for Sunday's farmers market. Santos expects to bring cherries to the market next week.


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