Okanagan apple crop ripens well ahead of normal

Pickers at some Okanagan orchards are scrambling as apples are ready to harvest much sooner than usual.

The owner of Summerland’s Happy Valley Harvest, Steve Brown, said apples are about two weeks early.

“Compared to last year, this harvest is actually pretty close but compared to the previous 10, 15, 20 years, it’s actually quite ahead of normal,” Brown said.

Brown believes this could be the start of a new trend, one sparked by climate change.

“It certainly seems like we are getting earlier and earlier. That might impact fruit growing long term and even what we are able to grow.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It certainly seems like we are getting earlier and earlier. That might impact fruit growing long term and even what we are able to grow."

Brown said one downside of apples maturing early is they don’t get as much colour in the skin because that happens in cooler weather.

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But aside from that, B.C. Tree Fruits spokesperson Chris Pollock said it’s been a good crop overall.

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“We’ve seen fruit sizes actually larger than we saw last year,” Pollock said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We've seen fruit sizes actually larger than we saw last year," Pollock said.

“It’s continuing the trend that we had with summer fruit with the cherries and the rest of our soft fruit.”

Brown said for those looking to buy locally-grown apples, don’t wait too long, or you could end up missing the crop.

“You can buy these varieties earlier but we might eat through them quicker too, so we may have to source them from other places,” Brown said.

But thanks to favourable weather conditions, Pollock said a much more abundant crop is anticipated this year.

“We were at about 2-million boxes of apples last year and we are going to be close to 3-million this year.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We were at about 2-million boxes of apples last year and we are going to be close to 3-million this year."

While growers like Brown will be able to kick their feet up a little sooner this fall, for now, it’s a bit of a hustle for apple pickers to get the various varieties off the trees.