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July 2, 2002Cherry yield to dip down 95 percentGrowers expected to harvest 15 million pounds this year, compared with 297 million last yearBy LORI HALL STEELESpecial to the Record-Eagle TRAVERSE CITY - Michigan's tart cherry yield is expected to be 95 percent less than last year's, the USDA estimated Monday, and federal officials are now considering declaring the state eligible for crop disaster aid. The National Cherry Festival, meanwhile, will import about 40,000 pounds of cherries this year from Washington and Oregon for the eight-day event, said festival Executive Director Tom Kern. The festival starts Saturday and draws up to 200,000 people its first weekend. Michigan growers are expected to harvest 15 million pounds of tart cherries this year, compared with 297 million pounds last year, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates released Monday. Sweet cherry production is expected to be down 75 percent in Michigan but only 11 percent nationwide. "Unusual spring weather devastated the Michigan tart cherry crop," Monday's USDA report stated, noting that three 80-degree April days prompted early budding, followed by freezing winds that damaged high-ground trees and later frosts that harmed low-lying areas. Cold, wet days limited pollination of surviving buds. The USDA did not break down its estimates by region this year because early indications of crop failure suggested the cost of such a survey was not warranted, experts said. The new numbers track with industry estimates released earlier. Typically agricultural officials survey a number of orchards to estimate crop yields statewide. Northwest Michigan - the nation's No. 1 tart cherry region, producing half the country's yield - is expected to produce 2 to 3 million pounds this season, industry groups project. "It's so small that all of us are having a hard time estimating," said Jim Nugent, district horticulturist for Michigan State University Extension. The region's growers produced 183 million pounds of tarts last year, and average production is 145 million pounds. This year's crop is the smallest yield in the state's recorded history, and the smallest nationally since 1943, Nugent said. "It's devastating in terms of the consequence to producers and processors," said Perry Hedin, executive director of the Cherry Industry Administrative Board in DeWitt. "None of us in the industry have encountered this kind of situation in history, in memory, so we're having to learn how to deal with it." Officials are moving to declare a tart cherry crop disaster in the state, a designation that makes growers eligible for low-interest government loans, said Jim Bardenhagen, Leelanau County MSU Extension director. USDA Farm Service Agency officials and other agricultural experts and representatives met here in May to evaluate the crop. Gov. John Engler has recommended that the USDA declare the state's tart-growing counties as crop disaster areas, Bardenhagen said. A federal decision is pending. Growers who lose more than 30 percent of crops would be eligible. The government, however, has not set aside such crop disaster funds this year, part of an effort to shift from disaster assistance to insurance-type programs. "That doesn't mean it can't happen - it just means there are no funds set aside at this time," Bardenhagen said. A federal marketing order instituted by growers in 1997 sets production quotas for abundant years, and 113 million tons of tarts are in storage from last year's hardy crop. Stored cherries and this year's national harvest, expected to be 60 million pounds, should combine to meet most of the nation's annual 200 million pound demand for tart cherries, which are dried and used in baked goods and juices. "Obviously we're going to be short, but we're going to be far less short than we would have been without the marketing order," Hedin said. "What we have in place will in fact help soften the blow of this crop disaster. We're going to be able to sustain our market position." Nationally, tart cherry production is expected to be down 84 percent this year - 59 million pounds compared to 369 million last year, the USDA estimated Monday. The nation's lowest recorded tart cherry yield was in 1943, when 40.8 million pounds were produced. Michigan was hardest hit this year. Utah, typically the nation's second-leading tart cherry producer, is expected to yield 3 million pounds, compared to 33 million pounds in 2000, a 75 percent crop loss. Washington's expected 18 million pound harvest is down 29 percent from 2001; Wisconsin expects 4.2 million pounds, a 68 percent decrease; and New York is expected to produce 12 million pounds, down 18 percent from last year and 28 percent below 2000. Oregon and Colorado crops also were damaged by late frosts. |
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