Grow

Grown by cherry lovers for cherry lovers

Tarras Cherry Corp comprises a group of like-minded professional, innovative and passionate people who have an affinity with the land in Central Otago and a commitment to sustainable and safe horticultural practices.

Our founders are a mix of long-time South Island farming families and entrepreneurs and include from left, Bruce Jolly, Andrea Monro, Al Monro, Shaun Gilbertson and Jerry Rowley. Absent are John Ecroyd and Sharon Poulson. All are proud to draw on Central Otago’s rich cherry growing tradition to share New Zealand’s best cherries with the world.

Our location is a key advantage to our growing success. Spread over 40 hectares, our orchard is set at an elevation of up to 430 metres above sea level where it is less susceptible to damaging frosts in the blossom and fruit-set period in spring. As summer temperatures are cooler here than elsewhere in the region, our harvest occurs about seven days behind other Cromwell Basin crops and is more aligned to the timing of Chinese New Year.

Our smallest helpers

During spring when our cherries flower, more than 8 million bees in 160 hives are brought into the orchard to pollinate the crop naturally! These bees can fly between 21-28 km per hour to find a flower. On the way back to their hive, they are so loaded with pollen, nectar and water, flight time is reduced to 17km per hour!

Cherry trees in flower at the Tarras Cherry Corp orchard

Snow capped mountains above the Tarras Cherry Corp orchard

Our values

Our mission is to proudly share the joy of the very best cherries with the world.

We are passionate about growing quality, healthy food and take pride in the way we do this. We celebrate our people, our customers and live our values.

Safety is part of everything we do.

From the first tree planted to every cherry picked, we have stringent Workplace Health and Safety systems in place to ensure the safety and well-being of all our workers, from the field to the packhouse.

Together we are stronger as a team.

A commitment to work as a team and a desire to produce exceptional cherries drives our dedicated and passionate staff. We work hard to foster a happy, safe and rewarding workplace.

Do your bit.

We take care to produce cherries in the most environmentally friendly way while increasingly looking for new, innovative and more efficient ways to grow.

Cherry it.

We encourage our team to own their work, be engaged and committed to what they do and to go the extra mile.

Passion + Pride = Joy.

We focus on achieving exceptional quality for our customers and believe every single cherry counts. We are in the business of delivering “joy” and this comes from being passionate, taking pride in our work and celebrating success together.