A bountiful cherry season is shaping up for San Joaquin County growers, a sharp contrast to the trouble they faced a year ago.
And if everything goes right, there’s only one hurdle remaining: this week’s rain. But the upcoming April showers could sour predictions of a massive year for cherry production.
If the storm expected late Monday produces too much rain or is accompanied by unseasonably warm temperatures, it could damage a crop that has been on track for solid results.
“All of us are keeping our fingers crossed,” said grower James Chinchiolo of the family-run Lodi Blooms in Lodi.
A lot is at stake. Cherries are one of San Joaquin County’s top crops. The fruit was the sixth most valuable farm product in 2024, the most recent year for which statistics have been published by the San Joaquin County Agricultural Commission’s office.
But that figure belies its importance to the state’s farming output: About half the cherries grown in California come from San Joaquin County. As of 2024, there were more than 21,000 acres of cherry orchards in the county. There also were about a dozen packing houses, which serve growers throughout the state, according to the commissioner’s annual farm report.
The last couple years have been the pits for local cherry growers. Last year’s crop was so decimated by heavy rains and high temperatures that San Joaquin County Agricultural Commissioner Kamal Bagri filed a disaster declaration to the state. The poor harvest followed a summer with record-setting heat — with 41 days locally with temperatures topping 100 degrees that were tough on the little crimson orbs.
The year before wasn’t much better. The value of the 2024 crop was $240 million, down from $270.3 million in 2023.
This year, a bout of warm weather came at an ideal time. Showing up in March, the hot spell sped up the cherry blossom bloom and is leading to an earlier harvest, Chris Zanobini, executive director of the California Cherry Board told The Packer, a trade publication.
That means the local cherry harvest will arrive sooner than production in another prime growing region — Washington state — said Chinchiolo, who is also first vice president of the San Joaquin County Farm Bureau. If California cherries had to be harvested at the same time as those from the Pacific Northwest, the market would be inundated with excess cherries.
But before they can declare victory, growers will need to deal with this week’s rain. The National Weather Service predicts showers will begin Monday evening and last through Wednesday. Daytime high temperatures are unlikely to break out of the 60s, and total rainfall will probably amount to less than 2 inches during the span.
That’s good news for cherry growers. The last storm that marched through San Joaquin County earlier this month dumped about 1 3/4 inches, Chinchiolo said, not enough to cause any damage. In fact, “it was good for the ground and good for the trees,” he said.
The new storm will be fine too — as long as its total rainfall remains moderate.
“Too much water can be a bad thing,” Chinchiolo said.