Farmers in B.C.'s Okanagan using helicopters to dry crop and save their harvest
Okanagan cherry growers, already reeling from an unseasonably cold winter, are now taking to the air to save ripening fruit from recent damaging rains.
With just weeks before harvest, some orchards are hiring helicopters to blow away moisture from the sugar-swollen fruit. Pooling rain can cause fruit to swell, breaking or splitting the delicate skin and potentially spoiling the cherry,
"Hiring helicopters is not something we undertake lightly," said Sukhpaul Bal, cherry grower and president of the B.C. Cherry Association.
"They are very expensive, and if there were another way to save our crop, we would."
Bal says helicopters can dry an acre of cherries in about five minutes. However, they cost growers between $1,000 and $1,600 per hour of flying time.
ALSO READ: Strawberry growers hope for warmer, wetter weather
The powerful downdraft of a helicopter's rotors is highly effective in removing rainwater pooling in the stem bowl of cherries. Blowers attached to orchard tractors can also be used, but the process takes 40 to 50 minutes an acre.
Provincial agriculture experts warn in a large orchard crops can be lost long before the ground-drying process is completed.
"Growers understand that helicopter noise can be annoying to nearby residents, and they use helicopters only as a last resort, " said Adrian Arts, the southern Interior team lead at the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
"Orchardists use other means to prevent splitting first, such as the planting of split-resistant cherry varieties, or new varieties that ripen later in the summer when it's usually dryer."
The B.C. cherry industry brings in around $180 million in direct economic benefits to the province each year.
Sweeter cherries but fewer to harvest
The Okanagan fruit industry has been impacted over the last couple of years by fewer farmworkers and fruit pickers due to COVID-19, and a sweltering heat wave over Western Canada last year, which scorched up to 70 per cent of the region's cherry crops.
Cherries that are nearly ripe have a naturally high sugar content that draw in rainwater, causing fruit to swell and delicate skins to split. (B.C. Cherry Association via CBC )
Last spring, cherry growers also brought in helicopters during a sudden cold snap to force higher, warmer air down toward the cherry tree canopies to prevent a damaging freeze.
Fruit growers throughout the Okanagan region are warning that orchards and vineyards hit by early winter, record-low temperatures could see yields drop by as much as 50 per cent this year.
But spring heat and recent consistent cool overnight temperatures have allowed the fruit to develop and concentrate sugars, making what remains this season particularly sweet.
WATCH: Torrential rain forces cars to pull over on Kamloops highway
Sukhpaul Bal is thanking Okanagan residents for their patience and understanding, as early morning helicopter use will echo through orchards heading to harvest.
"Last year, despite our worries about the annoyance factor presented by the choppers, 99 percent of people were very supportive of the need to rescue our crops. Comments on social media and in person were mostly positive. We want to thank our neighbours."
B.C. cherries typically hit farmers' markets and stores by July 1, but growers say some early varieties could appear in the aisles as soon as this week.
Thumbnail image from B.C. Cherry Association via CBC News.
This article was originally written by and published for CBC News.
