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CHERRIES Washington leads the U.S. in sweet cherry production providing 45 - 55 percent of the nations production. We diversified into cherries in 1983 starting with dark red sweet cherries. We later added blush Rainier cherries to our acreage to meet the complete range of demand and quality requirements of the premium fresh market. We work to optimize planting density to soil type and topography. Appropriate trellising works to maximize cherry color sugar content and minimize disease and insect problems. We pay special attention to that process. Close monitoring tells us when cherries are ready to be picked. Washington cherry harvest is spread over a total of 45 days. Most cherries in the U.S. are bought and eaten around the Fourth of July so our harvest window is usually more like two weeks. Dark red cherries are picked into pouches then layered carefully into shallow food safe bins to avoid bruising. These bins hold only about 150 poundsdeeper heavier loading would cause crushing of the berries. Rainiers our blush type and the sweetest of all cherries are even more delicate. These are placed in flats of 15 to 20 pounds for their trip to the warehouse. At our warehouse and cold storage facilities the fruit is passed through a hydro-cooler for rapid chilling and rinsing prior to delivery to our IQF facility for processing or to the packing house for storage and final packaging. THE FARM