TRAVERSE CITY — Final tart cherry harvest numbers across northwestern Lower Michigan — as anticipated — were very light for the 2025 growing season, although there are some silver linings in this year’s cherry crop.
State and national tart cherry harvest results unveiled Friday by the Cherry Industry Administrative Board showed that the national cherry harvest totaled just over 190 million pounds, up from the forecast of 171 million pounds but only about 73% of last year’s harvest of nearly almost 262 million pounds.
But the numbers were much bleaker in the five-county Northwest Michigan growing district which typically leads the country in tart cherry production. Tart cherry production in Leelanau, Grand Traverse, Antrim, Benzie and Manistee counties totaled just under 34 million pounds, only about a third of last year’s nearly 101 million pound regional crop. The downturn was not unexpected, as the CIAB in mid-June projected a much lighter crop this year because of various weather-related factors going into the growing season.
“The weather conditions leading up to the harvest this year were very difficult,” said Melanie LaPerriere, vice-chair of the Cherry Marketing Institute board and the president and CEO of Cherry Central based in Traverse City. Industry officials had earlier indicated that some cold and windy days during the last week in April with temperatures in the upper 20s and high winds stalled the fruit’s development, followed by more chilly conditions this spring that limited the bee pollination of the trees.
LaPerriere also said the light local crop was tied to the cyclical nature of cherry trees and last year’s large local tart cherry crop, which led the nation by a wide margin.
“When you have a big crop last year, the trees tend to rest a bit the following year,” she said. “There was not a lot of recovery time for the trees.”
Nikki Rothwell, the coordinator of the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station in Leelanau County, said the weather challenges started early and continued into the growing season. Higher precipitation and humidity levels in the spring and early summer also escalated conditions for brown rot and spotted wing drosophila (SWD), an invasive pest first detected in Michigan in 2010 that damages mid-to late-summer fruit crops.
“It really puts pressure on with the fungal diseases,” Rothwell said. “We kind of pulled out of it at the end, as it did get a little more hot and dry.”
The west-central Michigan growing region in the Hart, Shelby and Ludington areas didn’t experience the early-season weather complications that northwest Michigan endured, and led the state with just over 59 million pounds of harvested tarts. That came in above early-season forecasts of around 47 million pounds. The southwest Michigan region harvested another 15.6 pounds, as the state totaled almost 109 million pounds of harvested tarts.
Antrim County cherry farmer Greg Shooks was among the local growers impacted by the damp, chilly spring, as he only brought in about 15% of a normal harvest.
“It was a really light crop — our harvest only lasted a few days,” Shooks said.
Industry officials said other international tart cherry regions in Europe also endured problematic growing seasons, leading to fewer international cherries competing with U.S. fruit this year.
“They had significant spring weather issues in Poland and Turkey,” LaPerriere said.
Shooks said the small local crop was also a “bummer” because it was a lost opportunity for local growers to regain some the market share they’ve been losing to international cherry imports in recent years.
“It was kind of a shame we had a light crop,” he said. “We were working at getting some of our market share back.”
But it’s not all bad news for local cherry growers this year. The smaller harvest and reduced volume from foreign imports has significantly driven up prices being paid to local cherry growers. While it typically takes several months for growers and processors to determine final prices, LaPerriere estimated that growers could get 60 to 75 cents a pound for their cherries this year, compared to about 15 cents a pound last year.
“If you’re a grower and you had a crop this year, you’re pleased because you’re going to be in the black this year,” she said. “It really helped buoy the grower who — frankly — needed it.”
The higher prices also left little fruit in the orchards this summer as growers — who often leave some cherries on the trees in soft pricing seasons — brought in as much fruit as was available.
“A lot of the guys worked really hard to get fruit off the trees because it was worth it,” Rothwell said. “If you had a good crop, you made some money.”
Last year’s early-spring weather wiped out much of northwest Michigan’s sweet cherry crop, resulting in a federal disaster designation for growers in several area northern Michigan counties from the U.S Department of Agriculture.
Industry officials don’t anticipate any such requests or declarations for this year’s cherry crop, although some of the farming losses could be covered by crop insurance purchased by local growers.