Cherry Production

The quality of a Coral Beach Farms cherry is a result of a happy marriage between the natural advantages Mother Nature has bestowed on our farms, and the tender loving care that we put into growing a fine product.

A good quality cherry begins with a rigorous pruning of the tree each winter. Excessively strong branches are removed, as are branches that are too weak. In this process the tree is opened up to sunlight and the number of remaining fruit buds is brought into balance with the root system's ability to size and sweeten the fruit.

Early in May the cherry trees burst into blossom. A well-pollinated cherry is a well-formed, large cherry, so over 200 beehives are brought into the orchards to pollinate the flowers.

Throughout the months of May, June and July we monitor for insects and disease, which threaten our crops, and control these as required. We select the least toxic product available to control the insect or disease in question for consumer safety and environmental reasons.

As harvest approaches and the cherries advance from a straw yellow colour to pink, a constant vigil must be kept against the cherry grower's old nemesis - rain. Rainfall of duration longer than a few hours can cause cracking of the cherry's skin as the flesh absorbs moisture faster than the skin can stretch to contain it. This cracking most often occurs around the stem bowl of the cherry where water pools or on the nose of the cherry where a droplet will form. The main tactics used to combat this threat is to blow the excess moisture off the cherries by means of low flying helicopters and/ or tractor drawn blowers.

As harvest approaches the maturity of the cherries is monitored carefully. A refractometer measures sugar content and harvest begins when these levels are optimized, not before.

A well conceived harvest and packing process is critical to maintain the high quality we have worked all season to produce. Harvest occurs by hand and is carried out from 5 am to 11 am each morning when cooler temperatures allow damage free handling of this delicate fruit. Cherries are carefully picked into 10-pound pails, which are placed into bins, and then covered in a reflective tarp to keep the cherries cool. Within an hour of harvest each bin is delivered to the packing plant and placed in a cooler awaiting grading. To ensure freshness, it is our policy to sort and pack each cherry on the same day it as harvested. During the grading process the pail of cherries is emptied carefully onto a sorting table and defective specimens are removed by hand. The cherries are then sized and proceed over quality control belts where grade is again manually double-checked. The final step before packing is the hydrocooler where the cherry passes under showers of nearly freezing water for ten minutes to remove any remaining field heat and preserve the cherry's shelf life all the way to the customer. The water in the hydrocooler has an automatic chlorination system to maintain potable water standards and ensure consumer safety.

Right from the hydrocooler, cherries are then packed, palletized and placed in the shipping cooler awaiting news of which corner of the globe they are destined for. Coral Beach Farms is a pack and ship operation, with fruit almost always leaving our warehouse within 24 to 48 hours of harvest.

Come and be part of the Coral Beach Farm family! We have some of the best summer jobs in Canada where you can be part of fun yet hardworking international community! Want to see what it is all about?  Take a look at our fruit picking video and one made by one of our cherry pickers, Rebecca.  Apply now for a seasonal job at Coral Beach Farms!