Fall has arrived in the Okanagan, where farmers are completing the harvest of their final crops. Growers report that the 2025 season has been one of the strongest in decades.
According to Adrian Arts, executive director of the BC Tree Fruit Growers Association and a cherry grower, the year's cherry output reached record levels. "The crop's been amazing. We've had the largest cherry crop in our province's history. Don't have the actual numbers yet, but it was phenomenal," Arts said.
The weather in recent years has presented challenges, including cold snaps and summer heat domes. However, conditions during the 2025 season were favorable. Jennay Oliver of Paynter's Fruit Market stated, "Things have been very good. But yes, knock on wood, and we've got seven weeks left for our season. We're open here until November 10, but it's been the best growing season I've ever seen."
Oliver added that yields were high across the farm. "Every tree that we have out here has a crop on it. All of our ground crops did really well. We are still trying to get the crops off. We still have crops hanging on the trees." She noted that her family, farming for generations, had not seen such consistency across crops and tourism in many years.
Lake Country farmer Al Gatzke, owner of Gatzke's Farm Market, said conditions aligned to support quality fruit development. "It's been a magical year. It's been decades since we've had a year like this. A combination of weather patterns that supported the growth of great quality fruit, the warm spring, which allowed the fruit to set. The atmosphere with tourists and our customers wanting to buy Canadian produce. Everything has just come together, and it's been a great year. It's been a long time since we've seen something like this," Gatzke said.
While some farms are still working to complete the harvest, others have already begun preparing their fields for winter. Growers note that snow cover is important for protecting root systems and providing sufficient water for the next season.
The Old Farmer's Almanac forecasts a mild and wet winter for British Columbia. If precipitation falls as snow, growers expect this could support another large tree fruit crop in 2026.
Source: Castanet