Our region might be in the middle of a drought but one key group of farmers is worried about a forecast 45-millimetre downpour across Orange on Thursday.
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Cherry farmers urgently need dry conditions to get fruit off the trees as this year’s harvest is already a week late to meet major orders.
Orchardist and the president of Cherry Growers NSW for Orange Fiona Hall said there was a bumper crop of good-sized cherries on trees across the region that needed picking.
Picking stopped when it rained on Tuesday, leaving the Hall’s packing shed silent on Wednesday when production would normally be flat out two weeks before Christmas.
“A week is a long time in the cherry world,” she said.
The helicopters are booked. I’ve got one on my front lawn ready to go
- Fiona Hall, Orchardist
“The season is running really late, we could do without the rain.”
She said export orders for Vietnam and, for the first time, China, plus local demand, needed to be met.
Mrs Hall said growers were spraying food-grade oils onto the cherries to protect them from splitting after being hit by heavy rains, while helicopters were ready to dry the fruit once the rain stopped.
“The helicopters are booked. I’ve got one on my front lawn ready to go,” she said.
“The fruit is excellent. We had good rain about a month ago which pumped up the size.
“We get a longer growing season because of our climate, so we get a bit more size as they are on the trees longer.”
She said when the rain stopped the 400-500 pickers in the region would be busy collecting cherries to send to the packing shed where about 90 packers, mainly students from Sydney, would swing into action.
“Next week is looking fine. We’ll have to work 24/7 to get all the processing done,” she said.
Another orchardist Guy Gaeta said they would not know if the fruit was damaged until the rain stopped.
“If it’s 40 per cent split it doesn’t pay to pick them,” he said.
“The crop was really, really good in Orange. If it [rain] could just hold off for a couple of weeks.”
Mr Gaeta said due to the drought growers had begun to get short of water but were saved with good rainfall in October.
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