After early optimism of another record crop, the US Northwest cherry season will fall short of last year's volumes, while California's peach, plum and nectarine yields could be going the other way despite falling acreage. The US Northwest cherry industry shipped a record crop of nearly 23m 9.1kg cartons last year, and expectations had been for similar production for the new season, but a mid-spring frost and subsequent poor pollinating conditions means the 2013 deal will not be another record-breakerafter all. "The early growing districts in the south, around the Tri-Cities area, were hit pretty hard by the frost in early April," says Marc Spears of Chelan Fresh Marketing. "There had been talk about another 23rn-carton crop this year, but that clearly is not going to be the case."
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