Many Michigan tart cherry growers didn’t even get the shakers out of their barns.
Just ask Andrea Herrygers, general manager of the Michigan Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Association, who said a late spring freeze caused the tart cherry crop to be minimal in South and West-Central Michigan.
Overall, Michigan has a cherry crop, but “it is not a huge one,” added Herrygers, noting northern Michigan had an OK crop, which kept the market moving, “thankfully.”
“Apples, however, did not get as affected by the late freeze,” Herrygers said.
“Southern Michigan was hit the hardest. In some areas, it is variety specific or evident in the low spots based on the farm. The biggest driver of price is that Pennsylvania and the Virginias have no crops. Michigan, New York, and North Carolina have an average- to less-than-average crop, so there is a demand for apples and that will affect the price.”
A nonprofit research and promotion organization representing cherry growers in Michigan, New York, Wisconsin and Utah, the Cherry Marketing Institute (CMI) said Michigan produced 108.69 million pounds of tart cherries in 2025, or 57% of the 190.54 million-pound U.S. crop, down from 178.41 million pounds in 2024. Northwest Michigan produced 33.73 million pounds in 2025, down from 100.73 million pounds in 2024.
National harvest totals for 2026 are estimated to drop to 80.2 million pounds, with Northwest Michigan harvesting about 52 million pounds.
“Not sure about sweet cherries,” added Greg Shooks, an Antrim County Farm Bureau member who grows 300 acres of sweet, black sweet, tart and Balaton cherries near Torch Lake and Grand Traverse Bay.
“They took the hardest beating from the storm.”
According to Shooks, a “once-in-a-century June 29 storm” affected his cherry yields, as the storm doled out 4 inches of rain on his operation in a couple of hours.
Still, Shooks finished cherry harvest about two weeks ago, moving from light, sweet cherries (which are processed into maraschinos) to dark, sweet cherries, and tarts afterward. He said the wet weather and storms bruised his cherries, making the quality “challenging to control.”
Cherries rely on their appearance when marketed to consumers.
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“This was common for most growers in northern Michigan,” Shooks told Michigan Farm News.
“Most growers up here had a crop to harvest, albeit small, but had enough to chase around for.”
