Cherry farmers of tomorrow battle pests, cheap imports, climate change

Photo: Randy Middleton of Cathead Farms began pulling tarps at age 12. Photo by Madeleine Vedel

By Madeleine Hill Vedel

Sun contributor

In Leelanau County we relish being known as the Cherry Capital of America. We await in anticipation the blossoming orchards that cover the hills, the views of the bluest bay beyond, roadside stands filled with quarts of sweet dark cherries and their honor system payment boxes, and from time immemorial, those tart cherry pies. More recently, we’ve incorporated dried cherries into our scones and trail mixes, or cherry concentrate into our drinks and smoothies. Cherries are deeply interwoven into our region’s personality and pride. And yet, the mean age of our local cherry growers is nearing 60. The future generation of cherry farmers, i.e. those 40 and under, number about a dozen, and the path ahead is not looking clear.

Young cherry farmers tend to grow up working on cherry farms. Randy Middleton of Cathead Farms in Northport tells me: “At 12 years old, a guy quit during the middle of harvest, and my dad came to me and said, you’re next. So I got on the tarps and started pulling tarps—they’re a little heavy for a 12 year old … I haven’t missed a cherry season since then … I’m 38 now. I’ve never been tempted away. It’s been in the family, it’s in my blood and I don’t want to leave it. Every day you want to improve the farm in some way.”

Over the past couple of months I spoke with Ben LaCross, of LaCross Farms in Cedar, Randy Middleton and his father Sam, Wyatt McCoy and his uncle Jim Von Holt of Von Holt Farms, north of Omena, Gene and Kathy Garthe of Garthe Farms in Northport, and Michigan State University researcher and orchard consultant Nikki Rothwell. In listening to them, I learned about the trio of challenges those committed to farming cherries face, each impacting their current and future livelihood in its own way.

Battling pest invasion, in particular the spotted wing drosophila, a fruit fly that saws into the fruit and lays its eggs. According to Rothwell, a world expert on this subject (as affirmed by Ben LaCross), this pest arrived in the area in 2010. It is related to the fruit fly genetic researchers work with in labs, as it has the gift (or evil ability) to reproduce every seven days. Cherry harvest has become a race to get the fruit in before the flies multiply to such an extent as to affect a majority of fruit. In the early years, fly populations topped out in September, then August, and more recently late July. Insecticides have become necessary, rendering the goal of working organically practically out of reach. This year, with a two-week delay in harvesting forecasted due to cool spring temperatures, it is quite possible the harvests of many of our farmers will be harmed. They are doing everything they can to prevent this. 

Rothwell has been focusing on the spotted wing drosophila and assisting in uncovering means to combat it: “This pest requires a calendar approach. If you don’t stop the numbers growing very quickly, it doesn’t matter what you spray. We’ve learned that they don’t like hot and dry, so opening up the canopy is proving effective in reducing the numbers. They’ll move out during the heat of the day to a woodlot. But tart cherries have these nice thick canopies. Research shows that pruning helps immensely. [which can be done in the winter]. There’s a little bit of hope there. But it’s a really challenging pest.”

Inexpensive Imports

The 2012 crop freeze affected cherry production nationally, opening up our domestic cherry market to imports, which Turkey in particular has exploited. Turkish farmers are selling their juice, concentrate, and dried cherries at below production costs, undercutting our local farmers who are unable to sell their fruit at its true value. The Department of Commerce is now involved and by next February, it should be determined—at least for dried cherries—whether an anti-dumping case can be made against them. But how far our national government will go to place retaliatory tariffs on these imports, when we have an arrangement with Turkey to keep an active airbase in its borders, is up to anyone’s guess. What seems obvious and necessary to support our farmers is anything but if it is caught up in international complexities.

Weather and climate change

Over the past decade there have been catastrophic crop losses, polar vortexes, early budding and late frosts, cool, damp summers and summer heat to beat all historic records. Randy Middleton shared, “Last year our supplier sent me 500 trees too early. The snow storm came on April 18, two feet of snow, and I had to throw them all away.” 

For Wyatt McCoy: “At my point—I’m 32—it’s pretty scary. The future doesn’t look that great. Trying to figure out what to plant is not easy. You plant an orchard, that’s a 40-year investment. The tart cherry industry is horrible and it doesn’t look like that’s going to turn around any time soon. We have some dark sweets we do okay on. What do you put in the ground that’s going to be worth something in 10 years?”

Whether they left the farm to go to college and then returned, tried out different paths such as construction and welding, or have rarely left the peninsula, these farmers have chosen cherry farming. For many, taking part-time jobs off farm, or having a spouse who works off farm and brings in a steady paycheck, is essential to make it all work. And in this they are continuing as others have before them. Gene Garthe tells me, “Cherry farming is what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to go work for some big corporation in Detroit, selling something people didn’t need. When I married Kathy in 1980, she worked at the hospital and taught at the college, working on her master’s, two jobs and school. I was working sixty hours a week at the factory then coming home and spraying, doing all the stuff here. That’s how our life was for quite a few years.”

An additional point to understand: most succeeding generations purchase the family farm from the generation preceding it, thus owning it outright and offering the parents and grandparents a retirement income. But land values have skyrocketed in Leelanau County, and with cherries bringing in far less, this traditional arrangement has become more difficult. Jim Von Holt shares, “I want Wyatt to make it. I want the few that are left, the kids, to make it. But the costs are astronomical. We have to do a lot of planning, so he can purchase it without putting him into debt he can’t manage.”

Our local cherry industry has not been idle. They have come together to modernize their marketing approach. One key has been investing in scientific research, adeptly repositioning the cherry from the center of Grandmother’s pie to a super food proven to be filled with antioxidants and melatonin. According to Medicaldaily.com, collating data from multiple studies conducted at Boston University, Michigan State University, The University of Michigan Cardio-protective Research Laboratory, and The American Institute for Cancer Research, cherries assist in: alleviating arthritis and inflammatory conditions; lowering blood sugar levels in people with diabetes; lowering the risk of heart disease; lowering the risk of colon cancer; improving memory; and helping you get a good night’s sleep. With this information in hand, the industry has expanded the market and should be reaping the benefits. But surmounting the challenges to do so, is not easy or obvious.

Asked about his future, Randy responded, “I hope to keep it going. Do I want to retire as a farmer? You never retire as a farmer. You just keep working till you die … We’re doing alright. It’s a gamble.”

Ben LaCross speaks passionately in favor of his chosen path: “Northern Michigan is the cherry capital of the world. We grow a wonderful piece of fruit every American should enjoy in their diet every day of their lives … Why would we want to give up on something that we are considering a super fruit? That’s why I am still very bullish on the cherry industry. Our airport is named after our fruit. Our town throws a giant party to celebrate our fruit. As cherry farmers we are very proud of this. Tens of thousands of acres of cherries (are) grown up here. Also of course grapes, hops, apples. But if we lost the cherry industry, those crops wouldn’t absorb the farm land that is currently devoted to cherries. There would be land that would be abandoned, weeds, scrubs, an eye sore. We all share in the beauty of the cherry orchards.”

Each of these men is committed to the challenges ahead of them. They are each doing what they can to keep on farming, to improve their farming skills, maintain their farm equipment, plan and plant for the future. It is not, has never been, and will not be easy. So when you pass by those road stands this summer, or see local cherry products in the store, take an extra moment to think about our local farmers, and support them.