John Baker of Produce Marketing has kindly made available the 2020 season review by NorthWest Cherries.
Much information about season timing, production volumes (including data from California) and consumer preferences are shown.
Timing of the pandemic in relation to the cherry season in our two countries is different because the northern hemisphere season in the USA is May to August. In Australia the season across the regions is normally October to February.
Increased online sales were a feature in the USA as a result of the pandemic.
Fortunately many states in Australia started opening their borders early in the cherry season and people were able to move more freely within and between states.
Our two industries have much in common and we are in a position to always learn from each other, regardless of the comparative size of the industries.
At the time of publication here (mid-December), some early regions have finished picking cherries but there is quite a way to go, with plenty of cherries available for the festive season—both here and in export destinations.
2020 NorthWest cherry season review
All year long, the Northwest Cherry Growers work to further the reach and development of fresh, Northwest-grown cherries.
From health research to market development, across the US and 18 export destinations, the tasks of our small crew take many shapes and sizes over the course of a season.
In 2020, digital has been the word of the year, and so we have foregone the print publication of our season review for now and have instead developed a web resource in order to allow for better, easier and safer access to our information see cherryfacts.com.
Consumer response
An early but important crop, the arrival of Northwest fresh cherries amidst a global pandemic offers us all a look at how consumers responded both in stores and online to a fresh entry to the produce market.
The challenges of this season will always be unique, but it seems clear to our consumer survey panel at least that some of the trends we've seen emerge in 2020 will be here to stay.
So in support of our growers, our cherry industry, and our retail partners, this season we've gone beyond our print brochure and assembled an interactive collection of visualized crop numbers and consumer research insights which we feel document the 2020 Northwest cherry crop.
We've also included a brief recap of promotions highlights along with a database of our pre-season estimates and crop updates.
So visit our website at nwcherries.com and navigate to the 2020 Season Review in the menu, or simply click one of the links below to go right to a section.
Guided Season Review: We've selected a handful of charts and statistics that provides a thorough overview of the crop, and have combined them with commentary in a convenient slideshow.
Chart Gallery: For those who just want a specific answer, the chart gallery provides an even wider look at the season and the crop via a gallery of labeled and enlargeable images which may be filtered by general topic.
2020 Market & Consumer Research: Fresh on the heels of the Northwest season, we surveyed 3000 cherry shoppers to gather the insights of consumers following this unprecedented summer, including those new to online shopping.
See this article in Tree Fruit Dec 2020
