{"id":643881,"date":"2026-10-28T15:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T15:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/643881\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T15:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T15:16:10","slug":"early-cherry-harvest-expected-in-new-zealand-despite-el-nino-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/643881\/","title":{"rendered":"Early cherry harvest expected in New Zealand despite El Ni\u00f1o concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Cherry growers in New Zealand are preparing for the upcoming harvest, with some orchards expected to begin picking earlier than usual. However, the potential impact of El Ni\u00f1o remains a concern, particularly regarding rainfall during the harvest period.<\/p>\n

Mike Casey, who grows cherries north of Cromwell, expects harvesting to begin before Christmas, approximately one or two weeks earlier than scheduled. He attributes the earlier development to one of the warmest springs in over a decade, combined with adequate winter chilling and favorable pollination conditions.<\/p>\n

Casey said the final crop quality will depend on weather conditions leading up to harvest. Excessive rainfall could damage the fruit, while dry conditions would support harvesting. Most of his cherries are destined for export markets ahead of Chinese Lunar New Year on February 6.<\/p>\n

In Marlborough, Simon Bishell of Caythorpe Farm cultivates approximately 4 hectares of cherries near Blenheim. Harvesting is expected to begin at the usual time in late November, with average crop volumes anticipated.<\/p>\n

Variable weather during early flowering has affected fruit set in some early varieties. Bishell noted that rainfall remains a concern for fruit quality ahead of the domestic pre-Christmas marketing period.<\/p>\n


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Frontpage photo:
\n \u00a9 Orcea David | Dreamstime
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\n Source: rnz.co.nz<\/a> \n <\/p>\n


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\n Wed 28 Oct 2026
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\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cherry growers in New Zealand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-643881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}