Michigan tart cherry growers say theyâre preparing to let up to a quarter of this yearâs bumper crop rot on the ground under a federal marketing order, and some say theyâll shift into more profitable wine grape production.
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The order will divert 42 percent of the nationâs about 300 million-pound tart cherry harvest from the primary domestic market this year.
Growers in the Grand Traverse Bay area estimate theyâll abandon 20 to 25 percent of their crop.
Some producers are unhappy about the dumping, and Leonard Lion made his feelings known by dumping his 72,000 pounds of diverted cherries along Old Mission Road in Grand Traverse Countyâs Peninsula Township.
âAll Iâm saying to the tourists and joggers and others in this town is that life on the farm is not always profitable, and weâre losing our producers,â he told the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Michigan grows most of the nationâs tart cherries, with production concentrated in the northwestern Lower Peninsula.
New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin are the other major producing states.
Tart cherries â also called sour, red or pie cherries â are best known as ingredients in desserts and drinks. Nearly all tart cherries are frozen, canned or dried.
Growers say they expect to receive about 20 cents a pound this year, down from about 40 cents a pound last year.
âYou have to match supply with demand in the domestic industry ... or the market price drops to about zero,â said Perry Heeding, executive director of the Cherry Industry Administrative Board in Dewitt that sets the market restrictions.
Lion said he is moving out of the tart cherry business as fast as he can and planting wine grapes instead. Others in the Old Mission Peninsula are doing the same. âThe further I get away from the tart cherry business the better as far as Iâm concerned,â said cherry grower and Peninsula Township Supervisor Rob Manifold. âMy whole focus right now is to convert to wine grapes.â
