(East Lansing, Michigan) - Michigan, the nation’s leading producer of tart cherries, is expected to have a bumper crop this year compared to 2023 when frost hurt yields.

 

The United States Department of Agriculture is forecasting 182 million pounds of tart cherry production, which would be 37 percent higher than last year in the state. An unusually mild winter resulting in trees blooming early led to some frost damage to the crop, but warmer temperatures in May, along with adequate moisture and good pollination, improved tree growth and fruit development.

 

Nikki Rothwell, an extension specialist at Michigan State University, said she agrees with the forecast, not just because yields this year look to be excellent. She also noted how there were also fewer cherries last year because of frost damaging more of the trees' blossoms.

 

“We have a better crop,” she said.

 

Dave Kludy described his tart cherry trees in Shelby as “absolutely loaded," expecting his yields to be closer to 30 percent higher than last year while predicting a 20 percent drop in his number of sweet cherries.

 

Kludy, who has a few hundred acres of trees in the west-central part of the state, said his sweet cherries were in bloom when the only frost of the season hit his farm in March. His tarts were protected from the frost, though, because they’re usually a week or two behind the sweets in blooming.

 

“We’re going to have a big crop,” he said.

 

Most of the projected higher tart cherry yields are from the west central and northwest portion of the state’s Lower Peninsula, where most of the Michigan crop is traditionally grown. About ten percent of the tart cherry yields this year will come from the southwest part of the state, which seemed to be more negatively impacted by a January freeze and spring frost.