Nothing wrong with US produce when we can't deliver, cherries come early in Washington, but when BC cherries come we should stop US. I love BC cherries, much superior then US I think, sweeter with better flavor.

Interesting, because I've been watching for BC cherries and have yet to see them in the grocery stores yet. Normally they start at the end of June and would be coming to an end now, but this near not a single BC cherry to be seen. I assumed it was a poor crop.

Did a brief search for more info... seems the US is having a bumper crop this year, driving down prices. Growers in BC getting as little as 40 cents per pound, which doesn't cover the cost of picking and transportation so some growers leaving cherries unpicked. Also, rain in BC has caused splitting issues in many orchards, vs good quality product coming cheaply from US.

According to one report that I read, the U.S. government provides subsidies for "rent a tent" so growers can provide temporary workers with a cheap place to live while picking cherries.

I agree Konrad. I was fortunate enough to get a few B.C. cherries. They were awesome. The following week, before knowing this, I ended up with U.S. cherries. Not so good. Very little flavour compared to the B.C. ones.

I guess everyone should have had fundraisers and trucked the B.C. cherries to us. I would have gladly paid "big bucks" for cherries from B.C. that were supporting local churches, Girl Guides, or whatever.

There seems to be a lot of BC cherries available here. I've already have a few bags of them. They're always awesome.

They're dirt cheap this year - even expensive grocery stores have them at $3/lb.

It's the consumers' fault. They're always looking for cheap produce and some of them even haggle with farmers' markets vendors, not realizing this is their job and livelihood, and that high quality obviously demands high prices. I bet those consumers wouldn't want their salaries being haggled over daily by their boss.

Yes, it is, for the most part, consumers' fault and I would never haggle with anyone at a farmers' market.

I'm not sure how many people out there are like me. If I came across produce from the U.S. or any other country that was selling for say, $1.99 per pound, and beside it they placed Canadian produce priced at $3.99 per pound, there would be no question. I would buy the Canadian. This country supports my family and I like to support my neighbours. =:)

Yes, it would be nice heaving a Joice.
We have BC cherries here for about 2 weeks now and they're great. I used to buy from a local friend who got cherries from friends in BC from their own orchard,...not anymore, my friend passed on,..I miss it.

Not sure why it's the consumer's fault. When cherries are $13/lb as they have been in the past, is that also the consumer's fault?

It seems to me that this is simply supplier stupidity. A futures market would serve them well.

It's too bad the cherries are being left even though I can see how it could be more costly to pick them. You'd think they could dry or juice them or something. Maybe some birds will make use of them?

Anyway it's all luck of the draw with crops - the Canadian prairies are going to be sticking it to the US on grain this year. Incredible bumper crop we've got in MB to coincide with the free market on wheat and the drought in the States...

Found some awesome B.C. cherries today and bought two large bags. I hope there's some again in 3 days.

Yummy =:)

Love BC cherries, had some last week, you would think that maybe they would open their gates for a upick if things were that bad. I always talk about making a huge fruit run to BC but have never gotten around to it.

I was thinking the same thing.

If you monitored the U-Pick people a bit, there would be minimal damage to the trees.