MAPLE CITY -- Shredded leaves and thousands of tiny, pock-marked cherries littered the ground as orchard manager Greg Williams surveyed the damage to rows of tart and sweet cherry trees.
He arrived at the orchard late Sunday afternoon to find it covered in two inches of icy hail, the product of a fierce weekend thunderstorm that raced across southern Leelanau County.
"It's just completely trashed," Williams said of the small tract of cherry trees along Bright Road south of Maple City. "You can see how it took the leaves down and everything ... it stripped (the cherries) right off the trees."
The hail that pelted Williams' fruit trees marked the latest episode in a series of nature-related setbacks blamed for damaging the region's cherry crop. This year's harvest is shaping up as the worst since the nearly cherry-less summer of 2002, experts said.
Spots of hard frost this spring, trees weakened by last year's drought, poor pollination from declining bee populations, and a recent spate of cool and stormy weather conspired to wreak havoc on this year's crop.
State and national projections on just how far this year's cherry crop will tumble are due out this week. The Michigan Frozen Food Packers Association will release its 53rd annual fruit crop "guesstimate" today in Grand Rapids, where fruit producers will unveil projections for this year's tart and sweet cherry crops, along with forecasts for the apple, peach, blueberry and grape harvest.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issues its official projection for this year's cherry crop. But those associated with northern Michigan's cherry industry expect a small crop both here and throughout the country.
"This year, it's just been one thing after another," said Nikki Rothwell, director of the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station in Bingham Township. She expects the region's tart cherry harvest to be in the 60 to 65 million pound range, less than half of last year's total.
"It has been so challenging for us this year," she said.
Cherry grower Ron Rhoads said weather damage will cut his tart cherry crop short by 50 to 65 percent. Some of his 80 acres of cherries in Elmwood Township suffered frost damage in the spring, and then trees were pelted by the same Sunday hail storm that left Williams' orchard in tatters.
"I guess I just stood there with my mouth open; I'd never seen it like that," Rhoads said of the hail storm. "I've never been hailed on before, so I really don't know how to evaluate the damage."
One silver lining is that Michigan isn't alone in weather woes. An April cold snap is expected to cut cherry production in the northwestern U.S. by 15 to 20 percent, and other states experienced similar weather problems.
Perry Hedin, executive director of the Cherry Industry Administrative Board in DeWitt, said the national crop could be off 30 to 35 percent from last year's national harvest of 248.5 million pounds.
"We do anticipate a considerably lower crop than we prefer," Hedin said. "I think the processors will be looking for as much fruit as they can get their hands on."
Parts of Wisconsin's cherry crop were all but wiped out by bad weather this spring.
"They're in a very bad situation," Hedin said of cherry growers and processors there. "A couple of processors said they may not open their doors this year."
Other Midwest states experienced similar problems, and Hedin said only cherry-growing regions in New York and Pennsylvania avoided widespread damage. Rothwell also worries that fruit quality could be a problem at harvest time, in contrast to last summer where growers and processors reported harvesting high-quality fruit. Frequent winds this spring hampered growers' ability to spray crops, and wet conditions in May and June make fruit more susceptible to disease.
"I think quality is going to be a real challenge for us," Rothwell said.
On the bright side, yields at some area farms won't be significantly affected by the spring weather. Williams said two of the orchards he maintains sustained extensive weather damage, but five others did not. Other farms and growers were spared heavy frost damage in the spring, and farmers who can produce a good crop should find processors to take their cherries and pay a fair price.
"The further north you go, the better the crop appears to be," said Al Steimel, general manager of Leelanau Fruit Co. on M-22 near Suttons Bay. "As you drive around, it's pretty spotty."
Tart cherry production in northern Michigan
Year: Total tart cherry crop
2003: 97 million lbs.
2004: 87 million lbs.
2005: 128 million lbs.
2006: 114 million lbs.
2007: 134 million lbs.
Source: Cherry Industry Administrative Board
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