Several Leelanau and Grand Traverse County cherry farmers gathered last week for a roundtable discussion with state officials about how they can better assist northern Michigan specialty crops.
State Representatives Betsy Coffia and Tim Boring of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development led the discussion, which resulted in more questions than answers.
“This round-table is really about what our cherry farmers are dealing with and what farmers are experiencing in terms of adverse weather conditions, labor pressures, international markets, and what we can do at a state level … And our federal partners from all sides,” Coffia said.
Local farmers attending include Leisha Eckerle, Jim Bardenhagen, Emily Miezio, Isaiah Warren (Old Mission), Art McManus (Grand Traverse), and Northwest Horticulture Executive Director Nikki Rothwell. Gary Peters representative Kelly Lively were also in attendance.
In 1972, Eckerle remembers the price of cherries hovering around 19 cents per pound compared to 15-20 cents today. Adjusted for inflation, that pound for the cherry price should hover at 41 cents.
A Cherry Grower Alliance meeting last week discussed pricing terms that the State of Michigan should investigate, including how New York State operates with the state that buys the majority of the crop.
In 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order directing state agencies to increase the percentage of food sourced from New York farmers and produce to 20% of total purchases within five years.
“That was a big discussion of the farmers knowing if it’s gonna be 30¢, 35¢ going into your crop versus finding out when you will get a payment,” Eckerle said. “Having some type of commitment to the grower so that they can make decisions as they make their spray schedules, fertilizer schedules, and all of those expenses that come along with farms.”
The growers also mention the Canadian model, in which all apples, for example, have to be bought in the country before purchasing imports from other countries.
“Our product needs to be sold first,” McManus said.
The group of farmers also expressed frustration with the red tape of regulation that the stateDepartmentof Environment Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) of has imposed on northern Michigan farmers.
Most farmers expressed the need for EGLE regulations and charges to be reduced. From day to day, the confusion is immense dealing with the state agency.
Examples include regulation of rinse water and other permitting processes that cost a couple of percentage points of a small and medium farmer’s entire operational budget.
“I just know personally in our situation working with permitting of a receiving station … the permit process has just been the throat of our arms,” Eckerle said. “We pay for a permit every year, but I don’t know if we’ve ever seen the permit just because nothing ever gets accomplished with it. It’s very frustrating.”
Warren added: “I think EGLE has a perfect process for figuring out how to permit wastewater discharge from a plant in Dearborn.”
Farmers also expressed interest in a different form of insurance that wouldn’t leave farmers on the hook for years before receiving insurance payments.
Farmers expressed the need for a farm savings account that all farmers could contribute to, which would be better than insurance coverage.
“Crops take years to get off the books,” Warren said.
Imports were a small part of the discussion, which led to more questions. The argument is that cherries are coming into the country artificially cheaply. Peters testified at the Trade Commission, which progressed but fell apart quickly, according to Lively.
“These are complicated multilevel issues here that speaks to the need for us to have continued problem solving on a coordinated function of the local and state,” MDARD Director Tim Boring said. “At the department broadly, our highest priorities are resiliency, diversity, economic prosperity, and cropping systems. So that puts these specialty crop industries at the forefront of how we continue to have crop diversity. We’re making many investments in developing climate resiliency actions with partners in Michigan State.”
Certainly, the recent federal disaster declaration issued in late September is a lifeline in some respects for the availability of some low-interest loans through the United States Department of Agriculture.
