Northern Michigan sweet cherries will be available for the National Cherry Festival this year. And the harvest of tart cherries - a lot of tart cherries - will follow soon after.

Cherry trees on Lee Point

The state’s tart cherry production is forecast at 230 million pounds, an increase of nearly 21 percent from the 190 million pounds harvested last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

“We’ve got a bumper crop,” said Glenn LaCross, fruit grower and processor of fruit at Leelanau Fruit Company, located south of Suttons Bay. “We’ve got much more fruit on trees … given the drought conditions, the crop (size) is stressing trees that much more.”

Temperatures fell to the mid- to -upper 20s on April 7 and 8, leading to speculation about the size of this year’s crop. A freeze the same weekend succeeded in killing the majority of tart cherry buds in the southwest part of the state.

However, northern Michigan orchards appear to have come away unscathed with yield potential listed as “high” after excellent bloom and pollination conditions.

“We’ve got a very large, close to unmanageable crop of sour cherries unless we use the marketing order to divert some of this product,” LaCross said.

Manistee and Benzie counties, which had severe freeze damage in 2006, also have very good crops. Leelanau County’s output is expected to be above last year.
So what does that mean to growers, other than the fact that the onset of harvest is coming about two weeks ahead of schedule?

Plenty, they say.

The Cherry Industry Administrative Board, attempts to improve prices paid to producers for their cherries. The group seeks to match the supply of tarts with the demand through the Optimum Supply Formula, which takes the forecast into account.

“Free” tonnage designated by CIAB must either be retained by handlers in inventory, or diverted into other market opportunities. “Restricted” tonnage is that which must either be retained in inventory or diverted into other market opportunities.

Based on the national crop, estimated at 294 million pounds this year, the CIAB determined the “free” percentage be set at 55 percent and the remainder restricted.

“We’ve got a 45 percent oversupply of cherries this year and another 50 million pounds in reserve from the previous year,” LaCross said.

Fruit may be diverted to “new product” development at the plant or through unique markets such as food bank donations or export.

One alternative growers seek to avoid: Dropping cherries but leaving them in orchards.

But it’s not all gloom and doom for the industry. Earlier this year, the Cherry Marketing Institute (CMI) hired marketing guru Jeff Manning, best known for his “Got Milk?” campaign for the dairy industry. Manning penned a new slogan to inspire the consumption of more red tart cherries – “Cherries. Not Just Another Berry” – which was launched in February. Growth in new products is also being touted as a positive development.

“A lot of things are going our way,” said Philip Korson II, a Lake Leelanau native and CMI director. “Companies like Cherry Republic, Leland Cherry Company, Leelanau Fruit and Shoreline Fruit have done great with new products. “

The 30 million pounds of fruit consumed in new markets represents the largest amount in years.

Korson said the 50 million pound surplus is not a lot of carryover given the change in methods used to calculate the reserve.

“In the old days, reserve was what there was frozen in public warehouses,” he explained. “Today, the figure includes juice, dried, water-packed, frozen and pie filling.”

Korson said he’s hopeful growers will be able to get 22 cents per pound for their fruit.

Growers now are likely more concerned about the upcoming harvest. Traditionally, fruit in the southern portion of the county ripens first, which means the harvest begins a bit earlier than the northern portions of Leelanau. That doesn’t appear to be the case this year.

“People near Cedar are already putting ‘loosener’ on, so that puts them 7 to 10 days out,” Leelanau Township grower Gary Fredrickson said. “We have a lot of cherries ripening up here. Usually, the lake keeps the temperatures here cooler, but this year its been hot all over.”

Long-awaited rainfall, measuring as much as 1 3/4 inches in some areas of the county last week, helped fruit gain some size. More could help, but the timing is critical as additional precipitation could crack sweets and turn firm tarts to mush.

“We need the rain badly,” Korson said. “I’m surprised at how good (the cherries) look. They could use the rain for size, but in the long run … smaller, firmer fruit pits better.”

Nationally, the 294 million pound forecast is 11 percent above 2006 and 9 percent above the 2005 crop. Washington growers expect to produce 18 million pounds of tarts this year, down 19 percent from 2006 but 9 percent higher than in 2005. The Utah production forecast is 16 million pounds, 43 percent below both 2006 and 2005 totals.

The Michigan sweet cherry forecast is 26,000 tons, up from 21,500 produced in 2006. The national sweet forecast is 317,370, up 8 percent from the 293,560 ton crop of 2006. If realized, this would be the highest production on record.