Published 8:55 am Tuesday, May 20, 2025
The 2025 sweet cherry crop has great potential for harvest volume, fruit size and sugar development, according to Northwest Cherry Growers.
“This year’s crop is looking even better than last year coming out of the shuck, which is the end of our bloom period,” said B.J. Thurlby, president of the organization, which represents growers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Montana.
The crop potential of 21.4 million 20-pound boxes would be 9% over 2024.
“Overall the growing conditions couldn’t have been better,” Thurlby said.
“Consumers can start to get ready because right now we think we have a premium crop on the trees,” he said.
Jon DeVaney, president of the Washington State Tree Fruit Association, said the strong crop could combine with trade predictability for important export partners such as China.
It also appears the California harvest won’t overlap much with Northwest fruit.
“I think cherry growers are feeling optimistic with good quality fruit and some steady market conditions,” DeVaney added.
The U.S. sweet cherry crop, boosted by higher prices, bearing acreage and production, grew to $817 million in value in 2024, up 28% over the previous year, according to USDA data released in early May.
“Overall, it was a really good year in the cherry business. For the most part, growers were able to at least stay in business for another year, which, given agriculture right now, that’s a good thing,” he said.
Washington had more than half of national sweet cherry production and value. But growers there and in California, ranked second, saw yield and production edge downward compared to 2023.
Oregon, the number three state for sweet cherries, saw a stronger harvest but lower prices.Storms devastated higher elevation orchards in North Central Washington and the 2024 crop initially appeared moderate. But larger cherries translated into higher packouts and increased tonnage, according to a Northwest Cherry Growers season recap.
A volume overlap between the Pacific Northwest and California didn’t materialize and the combined Pacific Coast crop was the fourth largest ever.
Demand exceeded supply for most of the past season.
Washington’s utilized production slipped 2% to 201,000 tons in 2024.
But that was worth $435 million, up 50% over 2023, as the price per ton jumped $750 to $2,160.
Bearing acreage increased by 1,000 to 40,000, but yield shrank 5% to 5.04 tons per acre — still the best mark in the U.S. by nearly a ton.
Oregon’s utilized production increased to 46,000 tons, up 19%, pushing the crop value to $72.5 million, an increase of 14%.
The price per ton dropped $70 to $1,580.
Bearing acreage increased by 500 to 11,500 and the yield rose to 4.01 tons per acre, up 14%.
California’s utilized harvest declined 7% to 94,000 tons.
The price per ton rose 11% to $3,140, sending production value to $296 million, up 4%.
Bearing acreage remained unchanged at 38,000 and yield per acre was 2.6 tons, down 8%.
National utilized production of 361,000 tons was up 4.5%. Bearing sweet cherry trees covered nearly 96,000 acres, an increase of 9%. Yield decreased 5% to 3.84 tons per acre.
The average price per ton in 2024 was $2,270, an increase of $420.
About 79% of the utilized crop was destined for the fresh market, which brings much better prices than processed fruit.
