Unusually hot temperatures in March led to a difficult cherry season, with farmers in Santa Clara and San Benito counties seeing very few cherries on their trees. Cherry growers say seasons are up and down, but not having any, or having very few is extremely unusual. Tim Gillio with San Felipe Farms and Fairhaven Orchards said cherry seasons are like a rollercoaster; he saw a good crop in one, but not in the other one. “We’ve had light crops and other issues but to have to where it’s a complete blank, that hasn’t happened in a long time,” he said. “In one of my farms I probably have almost 80 to 100 acres that I don’t know if I’ll pick.” He said this is because of the hot temperatures registered in March, when trees were in full bloom. “That just smoked the pollen and we didn’t get a pollination,” Gillio said. And he’s not the only one. The Santa Clara County Farm Bureau said several farmers are seeing few cherries. Chris Borello with Borello Family Farms posted on social media that “U Pick Cherries” will be closed this year, attributing it to an unusual warm winter followed by hot temperatures during bloom. And the economic impact could be huge, including for farmworkers who work in the fields. “If you can get a harvest crop that you can work on it here in April, early May, that’s a big money improvement for a lot of pretty vulnerable families,” Professor Of Agricultural Economics at UC Davis Dan Sumner said. “It goes down to the farmers themselves, the people and the crews that come pick them that can’t pick them anymore, the companies that sell us the fertilizers, the consumers that have to pay more for cherries in the store,” Gillio said. Meantime, Gillio says there will still be cherries. He’s keeping an eye on these decent crops before it’s time to pick them. “It is a lot of work and it’s disheartening when you put in all the work and then mother nature looks at it a different way, but that’s farming,” he said. ...read more read less