Bob Mast, vice president of marketing for Columbia Marketing International in Wenatchee, WA, said the company stays on the cutting edge with its cherry supplies. “We’re pretty progressive here at CMI in terms of varieties,” he told The Produce News on May 10.

The company accounts for 10-12 percent of the Northwest’s annual cherry crop. Bings are the largest volume variety at 43 percent. Sweethearts account for 28 percent, and Rainiers — which Mr. Mast said continue to show slight growth — rank at 12 percent of the manifest. Additionally, CMI markets Chelans and Skeenas.

Mother Nature has been a fickle lady this year.

“We’re having a very cold spring,” said Roger Pepperl, director of marketing for Stemilt Growers Inc. in Wenatchee, WA. “We didn’t have much frost, but it was unseasonably cold.” On May 5, he said daytime temperatures were hovering in the mid-60s. “But it is cold at night,” he noted.

Yakima, WA-based producer Borton & Sons is moving into the 2011 cherry season on a note of cautious optimism. David Whiteside, part of the company’s sales team, said the company planted a total of 1,000 acres to cherries this season, up from the roughly 815 acres farmed in 2010.

As is true for the growing region, cooler weather has had an impact upon production. “It’s been a cold spring which has delayed bloom,” Mr. Whiteside told The Produce News May 13. “Temperatures have been lower than normal, and the November freeze did some damage to trees.”

Coinciding with the much-anticipated theatrical release of Disney Pixar’s “Cars 2” and its retailed video game, Chelan Fresh Marketing in Chelan, WA, will be promoting dark sweet cherries in a two-pound “Cars 2” bag.

According to Mac Riggan, vice president of marketing for Chelan, the video game will be released on June 21, followed by the movie on June 24. Chelan’s cherries ship during the mid-June through August window, and Mr. Riggan said the market window is perfect for the “Cars 2” tie-in.

PEAKfreshUSA, headquartered in Lake Forest, CA, is providing the Northwest cherry industry with state-of-the-art packaging options. President and Chief Executive Officer Greg Ganzerla said that the company will bring the same innovative products to the region that have been available to California’s cherry growers since 2007.

While most watermelon producers have had a dicey spring, things have been pretty much right on target for Dulcinea Farms LLC in Ladera Ranch, CA, with its lineup of full-sized “Ruby Bliss” and “PureHeart” mini watermelons and Tuscan-style “White Bliss” white-netted cantaloupe.