Bad weather battered the state’s cherry industry this year. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development estimates sweet cherry growers lost about 75 percent of their crops due to extreme conditions.
M-DARD Director Tim Boring says a mild winter and a rainy start to the growing season caused disease and insects to spread.
“This year’s events are really a series of increasingly challenging extreme weather events due in a lot of ways—it’s just climate patterns in Michigan here. So, there’s a lot of growers that are just evaluating the viability of this industry moving forward.”
Governor Gretchen Whitmer asked for, and received, a federal disaster declaration for 11 cherry growing counties in northwest Michigan. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will provide eligible growers with low-interest emergency loans to cover their losses.
