Cherry season dealt cruel blow following wild weather

Lenswood cherry grower Ashley Green, That Cherry Guy business, said he had experienced three big rain events on his property this season.

"Each one has done significant damage and we're expecting to only pick about a third of our fruit," he said.

"The fruit splits, goes soft and then becomes unexportable and then it limits your ability to market the fruit as well."

The rain has affected cherry growers throughout the state, with various levels of damage.

"I think every cherry grower in the state's been hit as hard if not worse, I don't think anyone's really been missed," he said.

"We've got fruit that we've still got to pick, but it's still raining, so I don't think we'll pick much after early next week.

"That also depends on if there's another shower of rain, then they might not be there."

Cherry grower Joyce Ceravolo, Ceravolo Orchards, Ashton, said the Adelaide Hills had been hit with significant levels of rain.

"Across the Adelaide Hills we've had a deluge of rain and we're talking multiple milimeters a day, which is unseasonable for this time of year," she said.

"The reality is anything that was sort of close to ripe on trees has just absorbed so much water that they're cracking.

"Around the Adelaide Hills growers are talking about a 50 to 70 per cent loss, but it really depends on where people's orchards are situated."

While it had been a tough few days for cherry growers, they continued to have a positive outlook.

"We just want consumers to keep supporting us and even if that means buying cherries that don't look perfect, because I don't think there'll be a lot of perfect ones for a little while," she said.

"For Christmas we should have enough stock on the market to keep everyone happy, but it certainly will not be cheap."

Ms Ceravolo said they had already got 30 to 40pc of their cherries picked prior to the rain and hoped the later varieties would be less impacted, but it was a still a devastating time for growers.

"I don't think there's any point in pretending the growers aren't hurting and are pretty devastated this is happening to them," she said.

"It's been a few years in a row we've had weather events like this and that can be quite tough."

All the growers in the Adelaide Hills were focused on collaboration and supporting one another during this time.

"We're lucky to have the support of our local independents and the supermarkets as they put out the second grade produce and sell it to the consumers and help us make back some of our losses," Ms Ceravolo said.

"I'm just hoping that consumers will support the stock going out this week, that's reflective of the season we're having and obviously they still taste amazing."

SA Produce Market chief executive officer Angelo Demasi said cherry growers were quickly picking as many cherries as possible before Christmas, with a possible loss of 50pc or higher of production for the state's cherry growers, as the rain continued.

"Having the water sit on the cherries splits them, but with the wind it does dry the cherry out," he said.

"If we have rain and then a lot of hot weather and sun that's when you get the cherries splitting, so the growers will continue to pick them in the next week or so."

There was expected to still be a lot of cherries for sale, with the amount of local produce yet to be determined.

"We're not sure what's going on interstate at the moment there's Tasmanian cherries coming through and we don't know if the rain has gone onto Victoria and Sydney and impacted their production," he said.

"There will still be a lot of cherries in the market, it's just how many local cherries there will be remains the question."

The cherry growers are known for their resilience as they battle the challenging weather conditions.

"Our hats go off to the resilience of the growers at this time of the season, with the rain and storms and we thank them for getting their good cherries onto our plates," Mr Demasi said.