Ag News: Big NW Cherry Crop and China’s Record U.S. Corn Imports

**The first set of numbers are in and the Northwest cherry crop for this year looks to be bigger than last year’s.

Northwest Cherry Growers estimates 23.8 million 20-pound boxes, based on data put together by its Field Estimate team.

This estimate is much larger than last year’s crop of 19.8 million boxes, one of the smallest crops in recent years.

The actual crop size could differ with harvest still a couple of weeks away.

**Importers can’t get enough U.S. corn with the purchase of 1.36 million tons of corn for delivery to China in the marketing year opening September 1st.

www.agriculture.com reports, the purchase is worth $400 million.

Over 11 million tons of U.S. corn have been shipped to China so far this current marketing year, with another 12 million purchased tons awaiting shipment.

China is forecast to buy a record $31.5 billion of U.S. farm exports this fiscal year.

www.agriculture.com/news/business/china-buys-400-million-of-us-corn

**Productive orchards are being removed in California’s Central Valley, as farmers cope with severe water shortages prompted by drought and water-system limitations.

One Fresno County farmer says he’s pulling out almost 400 acres of almond trees.

Federal and state water projects say they will provide little to no irrigation water to many agricultural customers, so farmers must calculate how much food they can grow with limited supplies.