Sudden freeze decimated cherry crop in eastern Oregon

MILTON-FREEWATER, Ore. — Umatilla County fruit growers are still hurting from a cold snap that last year decimated cherry, prune and other orchards.

The East Oregonian reports growers around Milton-Freewater, northeast of Pendleton, won’t have a cherry crop until 2017.

The reason: last November, temperatures plummeted by nearly 60 degrees in a matter of days, killing buds and trees.

Not a single cherry was harvested commercially in Milton-Freewater. Farmers also lost prunes and plums.

Even some apple trees were killed all the way down to the roots. Umatilla County grows more apples than anywhere else in Oregon.

The area grows about 650 acres of cherries, which typically bloom a month earlier than in other regions and fetch a premium price. The crop usually brings in about $4.5 million at the farm gate.