Growing things is fun. A lot of people got into farming with that in mind, only to realize a mortgage or two down the road that there’s more to it.
Joe Grant, who spent most of his life growing things, learned from his dad that making a profit is essential in farming. His family farm in Bingham Township, like most spread across America in the 1950s and 60s, grew a little bit of everything to make ends meet. Chickens, a milk cow or two, corn of course, and in the case of the Grants, 40 or so acres of strawberries.
Leelanau’s heavy loam soil is rich in organic matter. Strawberries love it. They still do, although strawberry patches in Leelanau County are now few and far between.
The Grants might still be in the strawberry business if not for an activist named Cesar Chavez., who in 1962 set out to unionize farm workers in the United States. The story of Mr. Chavez is one of devotion to the working class, and we mean his legacy no harm. In fact, his work played a forgotten role in making Leelanau the top-producing cherry county in the nation.
Labor costs on strawberry farms — and Leelanau had a bunch of them — were already high in the 1960s, and destined to go higher. “Dad got 26 cents a pound for berries and paid workers 12 cents a pound,” recalled Mr. Grant, who is now retired.” He said to them, ‘I’m almost paying you half and if I give you more, it ain’t worth it to grow them.”
John Grant being a Grant — the family has a knack for outdistancing adversity through hard work — started planting tart and sweet cherry trees the next spring. Tarts like sandy soil, so they went in every sixth row of strawberries. Sweets found homes in more organic ground, their favorite.
Eventually the tarts shaded out strawberry plants, and John Grant evolved from a jack-of-all-trades farmer to a full-time orchardist. His conversion was hastened by development of the cherry shaker, which dramatically cut labor costs.
Why go down memory lane? Because cherry growers throughout America are facing a financial formula similar to the one that ushered the Grants into the industry. Except this time high labor is just one of the factors at odds with the bottom line of growers. More expensive fertilizer, ever-frequent spraying for invasive bugs and fungi, unpredictable spring weather and a thicker strip of bureaucratic red tape are piling on.
But the biggest problem facing growers has been unpredictable and stubbornly low cherry prices. And the biggest obstacle to correcting the problem — short of a slew of underwater growers going under — just may be a lack of communication and trust within the industry.
We applaud the initiative displayed by Leisa Eckerle Hankins, a generational cherry grower from Suttons Bay Township and owner of the Benjamin Twiggs retail store in Traverse City. She organized a well-attended meeting of growers from throughout Northwest Michigan earlier this month. She has scheduled a second gathering for Wednesday, April; 19, at 4:30 p.m. at Keswick United Methodist Church in Bingham Township.
The farmers appear on their way to organizing a “Cherry Grower Alliance,” which could give them more clout in demanding higher prices. Perhaps Mr. Chavez is smiling at the irony of having farmers form an alliance to aid their survival.
Will it work in the long run? Who knows. But we get the feeling that most folks in the industry are clamoring for honest, truthful information about the cherry market. How impactful are imports? How many cherries are in frozen storage? How much did my neighbor get for his cherries?
Market problems are real, and we aren’t blaming handlers for deflated prices. But it seems to us that everyone in the industry will have to agree on a basic set of facts before the ship can be righted.
Going back to strawberries seems an unviable option.
