Nothing screams Christmas quite like a cherry.
And Western Australia's cherry growers have been busy harvesting during the past month to make sure their produce hits the shelves at the perfect time for the festive season.
A slightly later finish before the harvesting season in 2023 has meant the timing is ideal for the peak of local cherries to be available for the Christmas-New Year period.
In many years, a later start means slightly missing the Christmas window with peak supplies by a week or two and having to compete more strongly with fruit coming in from the Eastern States and South Australia.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Southern Forests Food Council has collaborated with cherry growers spread throughout the Southern Forests region to form a Genuinely Southern Forests Cherry Trail.
This involves five producers spanning an area of 35 kilometres selling their cherries direct to the public from the farmgate or shed door and is a strong attraction for both locals and tourists to the region.
Southern Forests Food Council marketing co-ordinator Jennifer Riseley said farmgate/shed door sales were growing in popularity - and not just for locals who know the back roads.
"Visitors to the region can find the freshest cherries at onfarm stalls, including older varieties that are not suited for a journey to the supermarket," Ms Riseley said.
"The onfarm stalls are ideal for producers who appreciate the opportunity to make direct contact with their customers and for customers who enjoy hearing about where and how their fruit is produced."
Ms Riseley said the Southern Forests Cherry Trail operated right through the cherry harvest from November to January.
Southern Forests Food Council operations manager Laura Bolitho said beautiful spring growing conditions in the Southern Forests region resulted in a sweet and juicy cherry crop that was forecast to reach about 100 tonnes of fruit this year.
She said late-season rains at the end of November adversely affected about 10 per cent of fruit.
"The late rain can be heartbreaking for our growers, as it causes the cherries to split near the stem, meaning they break down quicker and can have a shorter shelf life," Ms Bolitho said.
"The fruit is still delicious, sweet and safe to eat.
"It just needs to be eaten sooner, which is a great excuse to gorge on these jewels of summer stone fruit."
Other major events on the council's calendar include the annual Manjimup Cherry Harmony Festival, which was held on December 12 and attracted about 8000 visitors, and half-day farm tours visiting three different farms to showcase the diversity of the area.
CHERRY LANE FIELDS
LONG time cherry growers Kathy and George Grozotis had an excellent warm spell in late November and early December to finish off the fruit at their Manjimup property beautifully.
Picking started in the first week of December and they expect to reap a very sweet crop of 60 tonnes this year from their farm Cherry Lane Fields.
That would be up from about 52t last year and comes in the wake of good growing conditions in 2023.
"The season was very kind this year," Ms Grozotis said.
"We lost a small amount of crop due to late rain, but good winter rain filled the dams well for irrigation."
The Grozotis family is WA's biggest cherry producer and has been growing the fruit for the past 45 years.
They have 14,000 cherry trees with 10-15 varieties and, more recently, planted 1000 avocado trees.
"The two crops complement each other because they are harvested a few weeks apart," Ms Grozotis said.
She said Western Australia's cherry production was mostly carried out on smaller farm blocks that were dwarfed by the size of crops in the Eastern States and South Australia.
"A lot of cherries come into WA from the east and South Australia before we start picking, and this year we should avoid having to send our cherries to market during the peak glut from the other regions," she said.
Ms Grozotis said 95 per cent of their cherries were sold to Woolworths supermarket, with the balance going to smaller fruit and vegetable shops and their own shed door sales, which were bolstered by being on the Genuinely Southern Forests Cherry Trail.
"The cherry industry is our passion," she said.
"It is such a happy summer fruit."
One of our biggest challenges is getting labour for picking.
"We have sourced labour this year through social media as well as traditional channels," Ms Grozotis said.
"We have been able to put on school leavers and agricultural students and are having some real success with the next generation of farm workers.
"Travelling to the area provides these students with a great experience over summer.
"It's early mornings and hard work, but you can make some great friends and really see what farming is about."
HILLVIEW ORCHARDS
HILLVIEW Orchards is another participant on the Genuinely Southern Forests Cherry Trail and owners Louis and Sijka Vellios have been enjoying educating their visiting customers about cherry production and varieties.
Mr Vellios has been producing cherries at his five hectare Manjimup property for the past 18 years and said 2023 had been a good year for production of the summer fruit.
He and Ms Vellios have 4000 trees and expect to harvest 30-40t of fruit this year.
Unfortunately, much of the early ripening Merchant variety was adversely affected by wet weather in late November and about 70 per cent - or two tonnes - was destroyed.
Later season lapin cherries had been very good performers, despite threats of late spring storms that luckily did not eventuate.
Mr Vellios said what was not sold onfarm at the shed door was sold into the local market in Perth.
He said the shed door sales were a real highlight of the year, as meeting and greeting customers was a nice way to spend the day.
"We are getting a lot of tourists and locals coming through to get their fresh cherries and everyone is happy to be outside in the sunshine having a chat," Mr Vellios said.
"They know their fruit has come straight off the tree and been washed, chilled and packed.
"When they get it home it can last for up to three weeks in the fridge at a temperature of two degrees Celsius."
Mr Vellios said the secret to growing a good cherry was getting the right variety for the local conditions and managing pruning and any pests and diseases during the relatively short growing season.
"It is quite a delicate crop and has a short season, but that suits us at this stage of life," he said.
Mr Vellios said it was exciting that this year's peak cherry crop from WA coincided with the Christmas-New Year period.
"It has got a lot to do with pruning and mother nature," he said.
"We had an ideal season weather wise, with conditions turning dry as the bulk of the fruit started ripening.
"Our main stress is worrying about the weather and you can't do anything about that anyway."
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Website: southernforestsfood.com
Facebook: genuinelysouthernforests
Instagram: @genuinelysouthernforests
