LANSING, Mich. – Michigan cherry growers have voted to approve a referendum to continue the growers’ 50 year old commodity organization.

The vote comes amid a backdrop of years long turmoil within the cherry industry, according to Julie Gordon, executive director of the Michigan Cherry Committee. “Labor issues, trucking issues, supply chain issues, production issues, import issues – I hope we can stabilize this industry over the next five years, so we can have a good future for our growers in the many years to come,” Gordon said. Michigan cherry growers approved continuation of the Michigan Cherry Promotion and Development Program, a state sanctioned commodity group that focuses on marketing, promotion and research to advance the cherry industry in Michigan. The group was started in May 1972. By law, the program  must be renewed every five years.

The Michigan Cherry Promotion and Development Program will continue for an additional five years beginning July 1, 2022. The current program assessment is $10 per ton for processed sweet or tart cherries and $5 per ton for processed cherries sold for juice. There were 168 qualified ballots cast in the referendum. Of those, 123 producers voted yes – 73 percent – representing 100,972,599 pounds of cherries – 81 percent of the production volume represented – and 45 growers voted no – 27 percent – representing 23,576,584 pounds, or 19 percent. For renewal of the program and its activities, more than 50 percent of the voting producers, representing more than 50 percent of the pounds sold by those voting, must have approved it.

“We were pleased with the results,” Gordon said. “It’s been a very challenging time for cherry growers these past five years. We didn’t get 100 percent of the vote, but we weren’t expecting that. I was pretty optimistic it would be approved, but not 100 percent confident given everything that’s been going on.”

Gordon provided a summary of what’s been happening with the cherry industry recently. Cherry growers in Michigan have suffered back-to-back short crops in both 2020 and 2021. The U.S. tart cherry industry had a devastating season in 2012, when a series of frosts and freezes followed on a very early spring warmup. The U.S. crop was pretty much destroyed. After the 2012 crop disaster, imports of cherries into the country greatly increased, especially from Turkey, a major cherry producer. “Today, the price that we’re importing at is way, way below the cost of production, because many of the exporting countries subsidize their cherry growers. We have lost a lot of markets over the years to cheap imported product,” she said. Gordon said tariffs or subsidies of some sort for U.S. cherry growers would level the playing field.

In 1978, there were 1,677 tart cherry growers in Michigan, who raised cherries on about 41,000 acres. By 2018, the number of growers had dwindled to 380, who grew cherries on 30,500 acres. “I can tell you we have under 300 tart cherry growers now,” she added. In 1978, there were 1,054 sweet cherry growers, who raised the fruit on 11,244 acres. By 2018, the numbers of growers was down to 350 and, by 2021 it was down to 221 growers. The number of acres used for sweet cherry production was reduced to 7,500 by 2006 and has stayed pretty stable since then.

Gordon also had a word about inflation and consumer food prices: consumers are “really going to see changes in food prices in six to 12 months, because of freight, labor and supply increases. Companies have already reduced package size and quantity to try and stabilize the price for consumers, however, they can only do that so much.” For more information on Michigan cherries, visit their website at https://www.usacherries.com.