Cherries

Michigan Farm Family Celebrates 125 Years

The Hoffman family describes their farm on Michigan’s Old Mission Peninsula as “a place to come home to.” And that’s a fitting description for the 125-year-old farm now operated by the fourth generation of family... more »

PDAs Add Efficiency to Farm Operations

A Palm Pilot can be an efficient and dependable tool to keep track of picking records, said a Michigan grower. Gary Bardenhagen from Lake Leelanau, Mich., has been using Palm Pilots to keep track of... more »

Family Makes Its Mark with Dried Cherries, Chocolate

Mike and Marsh Shadbolt are not your typical Oregon sweet cherry growers. In fact, the couple is one of a kind. For starters, the Shadbolts, owners of Cherry Country in the Eola Hills west of... more »

Irrigation Outlook Mixed

The irrigation outlook for 2005 is better than it has been in years, at least in Colorado. The last few years, water levels have been low due to drought, but local growers are hoping the... more »

Grape Grower Optimistic About 2005

What Michigan Niagara and Concord juice grape growers need is a really good year. For many of them, it’s been four bad years running. For grower Bill Schultz, near Mattawan: “Grapes used to be my... more »

Nation’s Fruit Farms Expected To Yield Large Crops

They’ve been doing it since 1955, and while the history’s fuzzy, members of the Michigan Frozen Food Packers Association took a few minutes to observe that the event June 22 marked 50 years for the... more »

Large East Coast Customer Base Makes It All Work

When Pam and Gary Mount bought Terhune Orchards in 1975, they weren’t just looking to run a farm. They wanted to create a community gathering place, and they seem to have succeeded. More than 500,000... more »

New Concept Cherry Harvester Has Its Debut

For years, cherry growers have worked with large trees. It was a major challenge to contain their vegetative vigor and get them into full fruit production in less than six or eight years. Now that... more »

Shipping Cherries by the Millions

It was July 22, deep into the cherry harvest, and the cooling pad at Cherry Bay Orchards was abuzz with activity. Cooled water poured into tanks, each filled with about 1,000 pounds of cherries. When... more »

Hip Apple Seeks Market Groove

A few Washington apple producers are starting to benefit from being members of an exclusive club that grows a New Zealand apple called Jazz. The variety moved into retail stores in the United States and... more »