Orchards picking cherries; stone fruit soon

Jackson Orchards owner Kevin Jackson checks in with Cromwell local Bella Dickison, who has...
Jackson Orchards owner Kevin Jackson checks in with Cromwell local Bella Dickison, who has returned from university in Wellington to pick for the orchards for her sixth season. Photo: Tracie Barrett
December 1 may be the first official day of summer in New Zealand, but for many in Central Otago, it is marked by the season’s first cherries, to be followed soon after by stone fruit.

Cherry picking started this week at Jackson Orchards on the outskirts of Cromwell and owner Kevin Jackson said workers are picking about 100 2kg boxes per day.

At peak season, the crop would increase from 200kg a day to 2000kg per day, he said.

A fourth-generation orchardist, Mr Jackson bought the orchard as barren land in 1989 and planted it out, after his original orchard in the Cromwell Gorge was flooded when the Clyde Dam was built.

One area of land on the property is higher and warmer than the rest, producing ripe fruit sooner, and Mr Jackson said it is planted with a variety of stone fruit so they have a good selection available in the roadside shop before Christmas.

Like many of the family-owned orchards in the area, pickers return year after year to work the summer season, and Mr Jackson said there would be about 100 staff at the peak of the season.

Bella Dickison said she first started at Jackson Orchard as a 14-year-old schoolgirl and has returned again this year on her university break.

"I’m about to turn 20 so that makes it my sixth season," she said.

She said she feels like part of the family and Mr Jackson always stops by to have smoko with the pickers.

Mr Jackson said they had no damage from the late snow falls the country experienced in October and he hoped for a bumper crop this season.

"It looks good and I feel good about it because we’ve had a lot of rain."

Rain damage did not occur until temperatures reached about 20degC, he said.

"Normally a rainy spring means a dry summer."

The fruit was also ripening in Roxburgh, where The Big Cherry owner Chris Toms said picking began on Thursday.

He was happy with both his fruit and staffing levels for the season, and said backpackers had returned to the region.

"There is a good crop of fruit and we have plenty of staff this year."

tracie.barrett@odt.co.nz

 

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