When fourth-generation farmer John Pulcipher took on the family’s cherry farm business full-time 16 years ago, he says the profits were fairly good for the crop, particularly for growers like him in the Traverse City area.
But increasing challenges over the past several years forced Pulcipher, 67, to recently clear out all 110 acres of his cherry trees in Acme Township, northeast of Traverse City. It’s a decision he says he contemplated for the past two years as he faced weather concerns and competition from imports that have driven down — and in some cases eliminated — profits for tart cherry farmers.
“There’s a confluence of things that have happened in the area and on the farm that just made me say it’s time for me to move on,” he said.
Pulchipher is among farmers in Michigan removing or reducing the number of tart cherry trees on their farms. Michigan has long been the top U.S. producer of tart cherries, accounting for 75% of the national total, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to the state, Michigan produced 201 million pounds of tart cherries in 2018 valued at $280.1 million.
The tart cherry crop in the state has a direct economic impact of $37.7 million and an indirect economic impact of $58.5 million, according to Michigan State University’s Interim Update on the Economic Impact of Michigan’s Agri-Food System released in May.
The report noted that the industry “continues to face difficulty due to changing consumer tastes and foreign competition. Access to labor is also an issue facing some fruit growers.”
The acreage of fruit-bearing tart cherry trees in Michigan has been declining since 2015, from 28,400 acres to 23,000 acres in 2022, according to the USDA’s Noncitrus Fruits and Nuts summary released in May. Experts cite numerous reasons for this, including cheap imports from Turkey and developers purchasing orchards for other uses.
After a low tart cherry crop harvest in 2012 blamed on bad weather, U.S. processors turned to imports to fill the gap, said Julie Gordon, president at the Cherry Marketing Institute in DeWitt.
“In 2013, most of our processors went back to domestic product, but then some of them did not,” she said. “Some of them were able to get the imported product cheaper than what they could buy domestic product for, so they continued with the imported product. Over the years, it’s just increased.”
The issue with imports from Turkey has been a concern for the past several years, said Nikki Rothwell, extension fruit specialist for Michigan State University: “A lot of Turkish farmers are subsidized so they can grow their fruit at far reduced rates and costs than it would cost our growers.
“So it’s put a lot of economic pressure on our growers. There are some growers that are maybe getting up in age, or they just feel like it’s stressful to them, and so they’ve been pulling cherries out.”
When they decide to stop growing cherries, farmers remove the trees from their orchards so they don’t become a haven for insects and diseases that would impact other farmers, Rothwell said.
In addition to import concerns, farmers also must contend with frost and freezes, invasive species and other pests, as well as suburban sprawl, said Theresa Sisung, Michigan Farm Bureau industry relations specialist.
“We had some really bad weather years in a row where it really hurt the cherry crop,” Sisung said. “Another is there are some challenges with markets and trade and some cherry products from outside the U.S. getting brought here into our country at really cheap prices. So that impacts the prices growers get.”
There’s also an issue with sprawl, particularly with population growth in the Traverse City area. That makes it more economically feasible to develop the land, rather than to continue to farm.
“Someone who maybe is getting closer to retirement or is wanting to scale back their operation, they can make a lot more money selling that land for housing development than they can using it to raise tart cherries, or really any agricultural crops, unfortunately,” Sisung said.
At Pulcipher Farms in Acme Township, Pulcipher removed up to 12,000 sweet and tart cherry trees on his orchard. He says the orchard will remain empty for the near future as he contemplates his next move.
The industry is a far cry from when his father, also named John, started planting cherry trees following World War II. Pulcipher worked on the farm to varying degrees since he was a boy and had a career in the banking industry before returning full-time in 2007.
“I think the reason why my dad planted cherries is probably because it was an up-and-coming crop,” he said. “This area is noted for its ideal climate to grow cherries. Got the right soil, the right climate, the right elevation. At one time, pretty much the whole county was covered in cherries.”
Costs related to tart cherry production average 40 cents per pound, based on Northwest Michigan’s average 7,733-pound yield, according to the Michigan Tart Cherry Cost of Production Study for 2022 by the Cherry Marketing Institute and Michigan State University Extension. This includes 26.5 cents per pound for operation and harvest, 12.6 cents per pound for orchard establishment and land control and 1.17 cents per pound for tart cherry assessments.
Pulcipher believes he earned about 22 cents a pound last year, adding: “You can see real quickly that that’s not a good business model.”
But he isn’t the only farmer exiting the tart cherry business.
Less than four miles away, Doug White recently harvested the last of his tart cherry trees on 78 acres of farmland. White, who is also the Acme Township supervisor, said he shook his last cherry tree in mid-July.
“Business has changed,” he said. “I guess I need to move on. The margins aren’t there anymore for me and the family.”
White is figuring out his next move for his land after he removes the trees. He said he’s had some interest from Traverse City Horse Shows, which operates at the nearby Flintfield Horse Park.
“People can come and enjoy the views that I’ve had over 35 years,” he said. “Standing up on the north end of the property and looking all the way up Grand Traverse Bay.”
He said things got tough four years ago, and he’d dealt with years of low crop yields, low prices and the increased cost of maintaining equipment, White said: “It’s bittersweet, no pun intended, growing sweet and tart cherries.
“But you got to look at cold, hard facts. I don’t think there’s too many businessmen out there that would say that you run a business without some profit.”
There have been efforts to help the domestic cherry industry.
In June, U.S. Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, both Michigan Democrats, announced that the U.S. International Trade Commission would begin tracking imports of certified organic and conventionally produced tart cherry juice and tart cherry juice concentrate as well as all other varieties of cherry juice.
They say that tracking this information will give a more accurate measure of the impact trade has on Michigan’s tart cherry industry.
“I’ve heard from growers across Michigan whose farms are struggling right now due to unfair trade practices and rising costs,” Peters said in an emailed statement. “We must be doing everything we can to protect their businesses and livelihoods and ensure they have a level playing field on the world stage. I pushed for this needed change so that Michigan cherry growers have a fair shot, and I’m pleased the ITC will now begin tracking these imports.”
Peters noted another concern for farmers, an invasive fly known as spotted wing that is damaging crops and increasing production costs. To address this, he said he’s pushing for his bipartisan Spotted Wing Abatement Trust Act to be included in the 2023 Farm Bill, which is working its way through Congress.
Greg Williams, owner of Williams Orchards in Leelanau County, said the government needs to be more active in helping the country’s agriculture industry stay competitive with imports. He also urges consumers to buy products made with cherries from Michigan growers.
“Somewhere down the road, we’re all going to pay dearly because once agriculture dissipates in America, then these people can charge us anything they want, and we’ll be dependent on them,” he said.
Williams recently eliminated a portion of his tart cherry operation. He cleared 40 acres, containing about 500 tart cherry trees, out of 200 acres growing that crop this past spring, and he’s considering selling some of the land. In addition to competition from imports, he’s also dealt with labor issues and invasive pests.
“The cherry industry brings in a lot of money into Michigan — a lot of money — and if it goes away, we’re going to lose many millions of dollars of revenue,” he said. “It trickles down to everybody. Equipment sales, mechanics. It’s going to be a major blow. We even have a cherry festival here in Traverse City, and if we don’t have a tart cherry industry, we’re not going to need a cherry festival anymore.”
Williams grows other crops: sweet cherries, apples and peaches on his 375-acre farm. Those crops have subsidized the losses on the tart cherries.
“I’m thinking about possibly selling some of my real estate because if I’m not making money and it’s costing me to do this. I have to liquidate some of my real estate before I lose all my equity in my land,” he said. “Because that’s basically what we’ve worked our whole life for is to pay our land off and own real estate to farm on.”
The land he’s interested in selling has breathtaking views of Lake Michigan and is an ideal site to grow fruit, Williams said. The property is restricted as far as future development.
“I’m hoping somebody would want to maybe do like a vineyard, a winery or hard cider mill or a horse ranch,” he added. “This particular farm is 217 acres. It’s a pretty good-sized piece of ground. So there’s enough room to have a horse ranch where people could ride horses all around it. They could have (a) wedding venue, things like that. It’s just not going to be tart cherries if they’re importing them cheaper than the cost of what it costs us to grow them. That’s the problem.”
The state of the tart cherry industry concerns Juliette King-McAvoy, vice president of sales and marketing for King Orchards in Antrim County.
“When we see so many farmers either selling their land or taking their trees out to plant something else, it’s alarming to us,” she said. “Is this industry going to be able to survive? There’s been a lot of consolidation in the processing end of the industry, so there aren’t very many options for farmers to go to sell their cherries.”
King Orchards is a retail operation that uses the cherries it grows in the products it sells at its market and online. Among the products are Montmorency tart cherry concentrate and King Orchards Tart Cherry Pie filling. The orchard also processes cherries it purchases from other local growers.
“I’m very concerned about the industry as a whole,” she said. “That the growers have no power right now. They are taking whatever prices they can get, which is below what it costs to grow and harvest. I just don’t see that it’s going to be very sustainable unless we have some kind of dramatic change.”
