For many northern Michigan growers farming and Mother Nature don't always mix, especially when you've had a year like this one.
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For many northern Michigan growers farming and Mother Nature don't always mix, especially when you've had a year like this one.
"Very windy conditions, we've had some freezes so that's why we are lower on our numbers and I think we've had some pollination issues. It was too cold and the bees weren't flying making it a challenging year for growers," said Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station’s Nikki Rothwell.
It’s been such a challenging year that local farmers like Jim Bardenhagen can expect a considerably lighter crop of tart cherries than in the past.
“Most growers are down about 40 percent of last year,” Rothwell said.
“We have a very low crop this year in Northwest Michigan about 70 million pounds. Last year almost doubled that five season average, 112 million,” said local farmer Jim Bardenhagen.
While his tart cherries appear to be on the lighter side Bardenhagen says his sweet cherries seem to be faring pretty well, but once again the fate of his crop lies in the hand of Mother Nature.
" I've been watching the forecast and it looks like rain. What happens when we get rain, especially when we approach harvest, cherries tend to crack and when cherries crack they're downgraded and that's bad news," Rothwell said.
“If they're going to crack they'll crack often, but sometimes it can rain and it won’t cause cracking," Bardenhagen said.
Until then Bardenhagen says he's hoping for the best because in his line of work, he says, that’s about all you can do.
"We're at the mercy of the weather. The number one thing we farm around is the weather.”
