The current heat wave hitting Canada is creating a risky situation for Okanagan fruit crops, as heat and sunlight can lead to sweeter fruit, but too much will cause crop damage. Growers are hoping to stay in that sweet spot, but there are already reports of damaged produce.
Alan Gatzke described the heat damage to some of the apples on his Oyama orchard as ‘severe’. The brown spots that he has seen mean some of the flesh of the apple has actually cooked in the heat. All in all, despite taking steps to try to protect his crops, he’s starting to see some damage from the heat wave.
“Our strawberries have already pretty much shut down in this heat, but we are hoping they will come back, when the weather becomes normal, with some new blooms and new fruit,” Gatzke told globalnews.ca. “[In the] cherries we are seeing some of the early stages of burning and definitely seeing the biological impact of the high temperatures where the leaves are flagging and … [in the] apples we can see damage.”
The BC Fruit Growers Association says it hasn’t had reports of crop loss yet, but said the hot weather could exacerbate the industry’s labor shortage.
Heat also impacts Pacific Northwest crops & farm workers
The Pacific Northwest grows most of the world’s cherries and there is concern about what will happen to the crop this year. The Washington State Fruit Commission is working to track the impact of June’s historic heat wave on various crops, with millions of dollars on the line.
“Never seen it get this hot,” said president B.J. Thurlby, who is also part of NW Cherry Growers. He said so far, cherries harvested over the scorching weekend are still of high quality. His organization tracks cherry crops in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Utah.
This year’s crop is estimated at about 230,000 metric tons, mostly grown in Washington and Oregon. That comes out to tens of millions of dollars on the line for local and regional farmers. He is now waiting for more reports by Friday to see if sustained temperatures over 100 degrees will damage fruit crops.
With temperatures at least 100 degrees forecasted over the next week in much of central and eastern Washington and Oregon, some farms are taking precautions. In cherry orchards, Thurlby told kgw.com that farm workers are harvesting fruit overnight to avoid the hottest daytime temperatures.
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