Tagged: Michigan fruit crop

Michigan farmers are in the fight of their lives. They're aggressively preparing their orchards for a robust harvest, lobbying lawmakers to pass policies that will help protect them - and some are diversifying their revenue streams with related businesses that attract tourists, such as cider mills and wineries, to help insulate them from the hard times.

PAW PAW, MI -- When temperatures plummeted into the 20s overnight, most farmers were ready with wind machines and sprinklers to protect vulnerable fruit. But it will be a few days before they know how well their efforts worked, said Mark Longstroth, Michigan State University Extension educator, as he began his rounds Monday morning to assess damages.

BENTON HARBOR, MI -The United States Department of Agriculture's recently released report of Preliminary Fruit Production figures for 2012 confirms what we learned last summer, when there were not enough Michigan cherries for local festivals, or we blinked and the peaches were gone, or popular U-Pick apple orchards said: "Come back next year."