Farmers forced to pick cherries later than usual due to past storms

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Workers were busy filling up buckets while picking cherries near Easton.

The rapidly ripening cherry crop shows off its deep red color.

Tony Yasuda handles field operations for the Rivermaid Brand.

"This is the latest that we've picked ever," he said. "Usually, normally, we're picking end of April or the first few days of May."

Yasuda says it is a good crop - much better than the past two years.

"The yield is good this year," he said. "Like today, we're going to be picking 800 bins."

As soon as the cherries are harvested under the warm sun, they're taken to the packing shed and immediately cooled off with cold water.

Yasuda regularly checks the fruit's temperature.

"They go straight into a chiller hydro cooler, which is set at about 45 degrees because we want the fruit leaving the field at 50 degrees," he said.

Rivermaid sells its cherries locally, around the US and even exports to China.

Yasuda says, ultimately, consumers will notice the difference between these cherries because of the chilling process they go through.

"The lower you can get the temperature down to stop the ripening process, the longer the shelf life," he said. "So when you go to the store, you'll see a fresher looking cherry, greener stems."

The window to pick cherries is very small - just a few weeks - so local growers are always anxious to get the crop off the trees.

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