06/17/2006

Spring frost damages area crops

May 6 cold spell caused extensive damage to area orchards

By Bob Darrow

bdarrow@record-eagle.com

Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
Jeff Send and his wife, Nita, will see a reduced cherry crop this year as a result of a May 6 frost. They own a 10-acre orchard on Lee Point near Grand Traverse Bay.

SUTTONS BAY — By now, the branches of Jeff Send's cherry trees should be sagging under the weight of their growing fruit.

But in the orchard behind his Suttons Bay home, the trees stand tall, branches light and reaching toward the sky, with only the occasional green bunch of maturing cherries visible among the foliage.

The scene is the same at many other northwest Michigan fruit farms, after a late frost this May damaged much of the area's cherry and apple crops.

Send lost about half of his sweet cherry crop, and his tart cherry yield will be down as well. His 10 acres of apple trees are "toasted."

"Most farmers have some of this somewhere," Send said, surveying the damage in his orchard. "Hopefully, they have enough to get themselves through."

Local growers are estimating 60 to 70 percent of the area's sweet cherry and apple crops were damaged when temperatures dipped below 30 degrees for several hours on the morning of May 6. The tart cherry harvest will likely be about 100 million pounds this year — northwest Michigan can generate as much as 180 million pounds in a good year.

"Everybody has been hurt in some way," Send said. "This would be a survival year."

The good news is that barring any further disaster, this year won't be nearly as bad as 2002, when only about 1 million pounds were harvested from a devastated tart cherry crop.

Local vineyards, for the most part, escaped serious damage. Mark Johnson, wine maker at Chateau Chantal on Old Mission Peninsula, said less than an acre of its 124-acre vineyard was damaged.

Apples, which tend to be planted at lower elevations where pockets of frost are more likely to gather, have been the hardest hit. Mark Doherty, a local grower and board member of the Michigan Apple Committee, said some farmers he's talked to are calling this the worst apple crop in 30 years.

Grand Traverse County grower Paul Hubbell said he's lost 70 to 80 percent of his 50 acres of apples. Another year like this one, he said, and he may have to get out of growing apples altogether.

"The apple business isn't that lucrative anyways," he said. "It's like going to the casino, you're gambling with Mother Nature."

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has requested federal disaster aid for farmers in 28 Michigan counties, including Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Antrim, Benzie, Charlevoix, Emmet and Manistee.

Greg Shy, executive director of the Farm Service Agency's Grand Traverse County office, said he's certain aid will be made available, but it will come in the form of low-interest loans.

Hubbell said he already has loans — he's in need of grant money. Many local farmers feel the same way, Shy said.

The state's apple industry, which generates about $450 million annually, should rebound, thanks to strong crops in lower Michigan.

Northern Michigan only accounts for about 10 percent of the state's apple production, said Denise Yockey, executive director of the Michigan Apple Committee.

"It was certainly absolutely devastating to some growers," Yockey said of the frost. "As a state, I think we're still going to be able to supply all of our regular customers."

Farmers will make their first official guess at the size of this year's fruit crops Wednesday in Grand Rapids at the annual Fruit Crop Guesstimate.

Send said he expects to break even this year. He and his partner Scott Emeott have 22 orchards in the area, many of which avoided serious damage.

Some smaller farmers weren't so lucky, he said.

Send will continue to invest time and money caring for trees that won't produce any fruit this summer, hoping for a "bumper" crop next year.

"One of the biggest tricks is you can't walk away," he said. "It kind of feels like you've been knocked down and stomped, but you've got to bounce back."