What’s Happening in Cherry Land?

Cherry growers talk crops, prices, and the future of tart cherry farming Up North

By Greg Tasker | May 27, 2023

With the cherry blossom season behind us, the age-old question arises: How does the cherry crop look for the summer?

The good news first: Michigan cherry farmers are predicting a robust crop of tart and sweet cherries this year, following some uncertainty about possible damage in recent weeks because of a mid-spring cold spell while some trees were in bloom. (Plus, there was an early May frost in some growing regions of the state and the 80-degree heat wave in April.)

Although farmers stress it’s still early in the season, they’re hopeful the warmer, stable weather will continue throughout the rest of the spring and help produce a bountiful year.

“We’re pretty optimistic for a full crop of tart cherries. Everybody is optimistic,” says Julie Gordon, who is president of the Cherry Marketing Institute (CMI), a nonprofit organization that promotes tart cherries. “We had a rough start at the beginning with cold nights, but we haven’t had any extensive damage.”

That optimism is fueled, in part, by a better harvest last year than the previous two. Michigan tart cherry growers harvested 178.6 million pounds and sweet cherry growers harvested 25.5 million pounds of cherries in 2022, compared to 95.2 million pounds of tart cherries and 17.5 million pounds of sweet cherries in 2021. Our state has the potential to harvest about 200 million pounds of tart cherries and 35 million pounds of sweet cherries.

Tart Cherries, Sour Prices

Michigan produces 70-75 percent of the nation’s tart cherry crop, with most of the orchards centered around Grand Traverse County. Tart cherries are used for pies and baked goods, snacks, smoothies, salads, and juice concentrate. In Michigan, at last count, there were 295 tart cherry growers, with 30,500 acres planted with tart cherry trees.

“We have a crop so far,” Paul Hubbell says, chuckling. He is a tart cherry farmer in Williamsburg with a 300-acre farm and about 60 percent of the crop devoted to cherries. “We did have some frost the other night, but I don’t think there’s any significant damage. I always try to be optimistic. We’ll have a better idea after we get through part of June and the June Drop.”

Hubbell, who owns Orchard View farms and is a member of the Michigan Cherry Committee, is referring to a natural event that occurs about mid-June when cherry (and some other fruit) trees drop fruit that is unpollinated and damaged.

Despite his positivity, Hubbell is concerned about the tart cherry market. He had a good crop last year but only fetched 15-18 cents a pound. According to a report from Michigan State University Extension, Michigan tart cherry growers spend 44 cents a pound to produce the fruit when factoring in costs of operation, harvest, orchard establishment, and land control.

“I see this year being worse than last year with prices,” Hubbell says. “I’m not sure that will come to fruition, but I have a pretty good feeling it will.”

Diversification vs. Dire Straits

The influx of tart cherry imports from Turkey, Poland, and other countries continue to hamper the economic viability of Michigan’s tart cherry industry, and many are wondering how long American cherry farmers will remain in business.

“Tart cherries haven’t been profitable the last few years and that’s affecting farmers,” says Brian Altonen of Altonen Orchards in Williamsburg. “We’re getting prices that we were paid in the 1960s, and all of our expenses are way up. There are invasive species causing lots of trouble, and that’s an extra expense. You can justify that extra expense with other crops but not with tart cherries.”

Altonen, who grows 60 acres of tart cherries and 60 acres of sweet cherries, has been diversifying his operations, cutting back on tart cherries, citing the dwindling profitability and labor shortages. He has a 5-acre vegetable garden and runs a seasonal roadside stand. The family also has 60 acres of apples, including some specially grown to make hard cider. (The family owns and operates Townline Ciders, which sits next door to the farm on US-31.)

Farther north, King Orchards has also diversified. The family farms about 400 acres, growing asparagus, strawberries, raspberries, apples, peaches, and pears, while maintaining 50 acres of sweet cherries and 75 acres of tart cherries.

They recently removed a larger orchard of older tart cherry trees.

“The tart cherry industry has really been going through a tough time between climate change and volatile cropping,” says Juliette King-McAvoy, who is vice president of sales and marketing for King Orchards. “We’ve had four crop failures in the past 20 years—that in itself makes it difficult to withstand the ups and down.”

While King Orchards had a medium-sized crop of tart cherries last year, concerns remain about the industry.

“Tart cherry farmers are in a really hard position, where the fruit is not worth very much and we haven’t made much money in a very long time,” King-McAvoy says. “Unfortunately, we’ve been seeing farmers either sell their land or turn them to different types of crops if they have the availability.”

Those realities have been tough for many growers to weather, she adds. “We’ve been able to stay in the game and are doing better than many farmers. If you just grow tart cherries, you’re probably in dire straits.”

Still the Cherry Capital?

Low prices were just one of the challenges growers faced last year. There were unusual weather patterns that had the entire state harvesting at about the same time, instead of two to three weeks apart. (In a typical pattern, ripening begins first in the southwest and then moves north and northwest over a few weeks.) Processing plants that pit the cherries couldn’t handle the influx all at once, despite running multiple shifts.

“I think we’re going to have the same challenge this year unless we are able to spread out [the] harvest,” CMI’s Gordon says.

More definitive crop estimates will come after surveys are conducted of the state’s tree fruit. CMI will release a sweet and tart cherry report afterward.

And while there are plenty of anecdotes of farmers chopping down their tart cherry trees, planting other crops, or selling to developers or farm conglomerates, Gordon says officials will have a better idea of how the industry is falling when the results of the fruit tree survey are released this year. The last fruit tree survey was done in 2018.

“The tree survey will give us a better handle on whether, in fact, orchards are getting ripped out,” she says. “There are new plantings, too. We don’t feel like we are losing acreage. As with all Michigan agriculture, there’s a lot of consolidation.”

Traverse City, she says, is in no danger of losing its esteemed title as Cherry Capital of the World.

“We will always be the Cherry Capital,” she says. “I’m confident we will.”