Cherry growers in Leelanau County are still tightening their belts after a poor 2024 harvest, with even multigenerational farmers struggling to make ends meet.
Gary Fredrickson, a Leelanau Township fruit grower, said the family farm has been around for over 125 years. But for a variety of reasons — including several poor growing seasons, fruit industry changes, and federal actions — Fredrickson thinks they are at their lowest ebb.
For Fredrickson, a big source of anxiety for the coming season are the new administration’s executive orders calling for an immigration crackdown. Fredrickson said that employing foreign labor is costly, but often necessary, because many U.S. citizens don’t want to help with harvests themselves.
“We’ve had the same people coming here to work for years. Some of them I have known since they were kids, and I grew up with them. But as they got older, they found other jobs, and they’re not coming here anymore. We used to get other help, but that has been dwindling for years because of the fear of getting deported,” Fredrickson said.
But Fredrickson said they are still better off than some other cherry growers in Leelanau County because they also grow other fruits and vegetables, including apricots, peaches, pears, and plums. Fredrickson said they diversified in response to climate change.
Other challenges facing Leelanau County cherry growers are the lack of buyers. According to Fredrickson, just 26 vendors buy cherries grown in the U.S., with the others buying imports from Europe and South America.
The Gallaghers in Elmwood Township have also tried to diversify in response to the volatility of the cherry industry. The farm was founded in 1972 by John (Jack) and Bernadine Gallagher, and it has stayed in the family for four generations. They are possibly most well known for their sweet and sour cherries, but they expanded to other fruits like apples, apricots, nectarines, and peaches.
The Gallaghers’ success has been bolstered by their willingness to creatively adapt to local trends, like the Traverse City area becoming a wedding and wine-tasting destination.
The farm, which is located on the hills west of Traverse City and overlooks Grand Traverse Bay, can make a scenic backdrop for events. They capitalized on this in spring 2019 by opening Bay View Weddings, which has proven to be a popular venue. According to their website, they are already booking weddings into next year.
More recently, they’ve moved towards vertical integration. The Gallaghers already sell fruits and grains to wine companies, but in late 2023, they started work on a distillery where they can develop their own recipes and branding and sell their own products.
The distillery is being built within walking distance of Bay View Weddings on the family farm. It will occupy five acres of the 400-acre farm and employ 20-30 people, according to the Gallaghers. When it’s completed later this year, it will be open to the public for tours and include a store and outdoor tasting room.
Another longstanding cherry- growing family in Leelanau County are the Grants of Grant Farms in Bingham Township. This multigenerational farm is now owned by Steve and Becky Grant and the family grows tart cherries, saskatoon berries, and more in their orchards.
When asked how the Grant family managed to cut it in the difficult fruit industry for so long, Steve Grant said simply that they “saves pennies everywhere we can,” and declined to comment further.
