YAKIMA, Wash. — This year’s bumper crop of cherries has had many retailers offering the fruit on special for less than $2 per pound this summer.
Eighteen pound cartons of size 10 Washington bings were priced at $18 to $26 last week, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. By comparison, wholesale prices were around $45 per carton at this time last year, after Northwestern tree fruit growers were hit with a lengthy freeze during the spring.
By contrast, weather has been ideal for the crop in 2009, and Washington State Fruit Commission officials recently told the Yakima Herald-Republic that they expect the state's harvest to exceed 20 million boxes this year, setting a new record. The state’s prior record of 14.9 million boxes was set in 2007.
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