03/24/2006

Editorial

Cherry industry decides to go on the offensive

When the price of your product is falling or static and consumers aren't buying everything you produce, what do you do?

Michigan cherry growers, to their credit, have decided to go on the offensive. And they've shown that they're willing to spend millions to do it.

For the first time in years, growers have agreed to tax themselves to pay for a two-pronged national effort to build up existing tart cherry markets and create new ones.

Under a "research and promotion initiative" approved by the Cherry Industry Administrative Board last week, growers will be taxed a half-penny per pound of cherries they produce to promote cherries directly to consumers and push further research into the possible health benefits of the little red fruit.

For some time now various groups, most notably researchers at Michigan State University, have been investigating the claimed health benefits of cherries. Anecdotal evidence that cherries are effective as antioxidants and that they can ease a variety of conditions have been around for years.

But proving those links to the satisfaction of the Food and Drug Administration has been another thing.

Last fall, the FDA issued a warning to producers of medicinal cherry products that they could not legally make health claims about cherries for treating problems like heart disease and diabetes.

That left growers and producers with a couple options — lose a growing part of their business and the potential it holds, or make it work. They've chosen to try to make it work.

What's needed now is further and even more rigorous medical testing to determine, once and for all, what can and can't be said about the health benefits of cherries. That will take money and lots of it.

The other half of the initiative — to market cherries and related products directly to consumers — seems easier by comparison. But the payoffs could be enormous.

Cherries have long been a staple in pies and desserts, but to date have not made the big national breakthrough that raisins did a decade or so ago and cranberry growers are trying to create with a current TV advertising campaign.

That's a shame, and a puzzlement. Even accounting for some undeniable backyard bias, fresh and dried cherries fare well in side-by-side comparisons with raisins and cranberries and even other fruits.

But wedding fruit and consumer is a matter for marketers.

Northern Michigan, of course, has a vested interest in seeing the cherry industry thrive and survive. Think of how many of region's best vistas overlook cherry orchards and you get the idea.

The industry has decided that, despite thin profits and plenty of surplus lying around, the only way to move forward is to invest in the future.

We should all wish them luck.