In an Aug. 2 letter from Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsacik, she pleaded for relief as “Michigan is experiencing a natural disaster for sweet cherry production.”
Leelanau Farmer Emily Miezio; Michigan Department of Agriculture and rural Development (MDARD) Director, Dr. Tim Boring; State Representative Betsy Coffia; and Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Center Director Nikki Rothwell spoke at a press conference Thursday in Traverse City regarding the letter sent by Whitmer.
A federal disaster declaration is what Michigan representatives are hoping to receive for cherry farmers that could help with access to low interest loans and qualify growers for ad-hoc programs that are meant for disasters.
Miezio, a local farmer and member of the Michigan Cherry Committee and chairperson of the Cherry Marketing Institute, says she’s never seen a worse harvest.
“We’ve just finished up with harvest, and I would say for a lot of us, we would say it was one of the most stressful, difficult harvests to get through,” she said. “I can’t think of another year that was like this. And I spoke with another farmer here who’s been farming for 60 years, and he doesn’t ever remember a year that was quite this bad with the quality of cherries. We’ve gone through tough years where we’ve lost 100% of the crop in northern Michigan and didn’t shake anything in 2012 or 2002. Those were two real rough years, but as far as the quality and the multiple things that we were up against, multiple diseases, we haven’t seen something like this before.”
The biggest difference from 2012 compared to 2024 is that farmers knew the crop was done in April so there wasn’t labor, and shipping costs tied into everything. The promise of a healthy crop and spending money on labor and shipping this year has rubbed some dirt in the wound of a poor cherry growing season.
According to multiple sources at the conference, since April 1 there has been significant rainfall across sweet cherry growing counties, including nearly 13 inches of rainfall in northwest Michigan.
“I think that the cries for this continue to mount (in Washington, D.C.) .... I know these calls are going to D.C. I know members of our federal delegation, Sen. Stabenow in the past has been instrumental in shepherding these kinds of programs through,” Boring said. “It’s got the attention of federal lawmakers, and we are certainly working with USDA about what steps might be possible.”
Agriculture is Michigan’s second largest economic sector.
On the research front, Rothwell stated that the mild winter allowed for invasive insects and fungi like American Brown Rot, Cherry Leaf Spot, and the invasive Spotted-wing drosophelia (SWD) to flourish.
“Diseases under warm conditions, they ramp up really early,” she said.
Rothwell continued saying the number of humidity days under 55-60%, which are ideal for cherry growers, was calculated at five days, which is uncharacteristic for northwest lower Michigan. Windy conditions also didn’t help farmers in spraying after discovering the potential problem to the crop. Susceptible sweet cherry varieties were hit the hardest. Sweet varieties like golds, maraschinos tend to be more resistant to fungi like American Brown Rot.
“Growers have always put their money where their mouth is and invested in research and extension and all the things they can do to make it right. And this year, they were up against too many challenges,” Rothwell said. “I’m very concerned about, particularly with American brown rot, which is that fungal pathogen that also moves very rapidly. We say 24 hours under optimal conditions, it can take out a single cherry tree.”
Rothwell continued saying she is concerned that the slew of problems could have some level of fungicide resistance.
