Apr 7, 2007

Oregon Sweet Cherry Grower Goes Fresh

Sweet cherry growers in The Dalles, Ore., have an advantage growers in other regions lack: they’re in the rain shadow of Mount Hood.

“The mountain blocks westerly moisture that comes in,” David Cooper said. “For sweet cherries, that’s important. Rain splits them and lowers their quality.”

The Cooper family has been farming in The Dalles since 1869. David’s great-grandfather raised draft horses, but the farm slowly morphed into an orchard during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Sweet cherries were found to be the most profitable crop.

David and his wife, Karen, own 240 acres and lease 80 acres of sweet cherries. They also grow 10 acres of pears. They raised cows for a long time but sold them last year.

“That was left over from my father and grandfather,” David said. “I probably did that longer than I should have.”

David, 60, was a teacher in Portland, Ore., in the 1970s. He quit teaching and started farming full time in 1975, when his father decided to step back.

“Farming was what I really enjoyed,” David said.

The marketplace is not what it was when he took over. There’s more profit now in fresh cherries. He leased the 80-acre plot to buttress his own acres, which were planted with mostly processing varieties that were being torn out and replanted with fresh varieties like Reginas, Lapins and Sweethearts.

“We had eroded our cash flow,” he said. “We’re retooling the factory now, tearing out processing and putting in fresh.”

The fresh harvest usually starts around July 4, not the most opportune time to sell fruit since there’s so much of it on the market. David’s goal is to extend his season and avoid the glut with more late-ripening varieties.

It seems to be working. Harvests are getting longer. This year, it started June 17 and ended July 23, Karen said.

The harvest was long this year, and the crop was heavy – the heaviest David has seen in at least 20 years. Bloom was good and the weather cooperated. However, fruit quality was not what he would have liked. The cherries were small and not as firm as usual, which hurt them in the marketplace.

“We haven’t had much in the way of good years,” he said. “The three previous years had rain.”

Their cherries are marketed through a cooperative, Oregon Cherry Growers. Those not sold fresh are frozen, brined or canned. Pears are harvested in August and September, David said.

The farm has six full-time employees but about 230 during cherry harvest. Unlike other growers in the area, the Coopers haven’t struggled to find workers, Karen said.

“We’ve been fortunate,” she said. “Our workforce has been coming for so many years.”

Some of their workers are local high-school kids, but most come from a village in Mexico. For them, harvest season is like a family reunion. Many bring kids, who spend their days in a local migrant program while their parents pick fruit. The Coopers provide housing for workers and their families on the farm, Karen said.

The Coopers have three children, one of whom, Stacey, is being groomed to take over the farm. David will farm as long as he’s able, but he’s starting to think about scaling back his duties.

In the near future, David wants to continue the transition into fresh-market cherries. He also wants to reduce the height of his trees. Switching from 14-foot to 10-foot ladders doesn’t sound like much, but it makes a big difference when you’re picking, he said.