"One of the worst years on pricing"—What happened to the Washington cherry season

This year Washington cherries hit the market early, and they hit it big—with pricier California fruit still on the shelves, and a crop volume too hard to allocate properly, the state's 2025 cherry season soon turned into what Loren Foss, vice president of business strategy at CMI Orchards, calls "arguably one of the worst years on cherry pricing in the last 15 to 20 years."

"Volume out of Washington came on very quickly, and so we couldn't get retailers to react fast enough to drop prices to keep up with the volume that we needed them to move," Foss explains.

As troubling as this outcome is, things get even more dramatic considering that, quality-wise, this Washington cherry season was a success for growers. The crop didn't suffer any aesthetic or taste repercussions from the heat, but the change in weather pushed the crop's arrival to market ahead of schedule, creating a nightmare scenario where the state's already large crop became even larger and ended up competing for space against California cherries.

Foss explains that when Washington's volume was ramping up, there was still really high-priced California fruit in the market, so retailers who paid top dollar for it didn't want to lose their investment. Bad news for Washington, as prices didn't move for its cherries. "We just never got off the ground with momentum," Foss says.

No fireworks for Washington cherries

Washington and California cherries usually don't compete. Foss says that his state's fruit starts harvesting in June, and by then, California is already leaving the shelves. This means most markets are empty and ready for more product—a green light for Washington to start shipping and ramping up in volume just in time to meet strong demand in June, and prepare consumers for the fruit's main event: the Fourth of July.

"During that month, we can get through at least half of the state's crop at steady pricing leading into the Fourth. Post-Fourth, we usually see pricing trend down as we work through the remainder of our crop," Foss says.

But 2025 was different. He explains that the state's cherries never had a strong pull from retail in June, its peak month, although the industry continued to ask retailers to "drop retail price to increase movement." Even during the summer holidays, prices decreased to $4.99, dropping as low as $3.99—a significantly higher discount than the industry is accustomed to seeing during that time.

A painful irony

As expected, given the turn of events, this year's prices had a significant impact on growers' revenues, and many were forced to walk away from their orchards as a result.

"They're saying, 'We're going to get a bill rather than a return' for bringing in their fruit, so there's quite a bit of fruit left in the orchard," Foss stated. "And keep in mind the fruit this year was the best eating fruit of the year—great eating fruit, great quality, just with very cheap prices."

From a grower's standpoint, Foss is frustrated by the irony of it all: "They're growing fantastic fruit. They're doing their job. It's just a matter of getting the return back to the grower."

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