Fruit

The cool spring of 1997 caused fruit crops in Michigan to quickly fall behind normal maturity schedules. Hot weather, however, in June brought development closer to average. Dry conditions kept disease infestations below normal. Harvests were 10-14 days behind average, but yields rebounded from the substandard output of 1996.

Apple production was 1,050 million pounds (25 million bushels), up from 700 million pounds in 1996. The preliminary farm-level value of the 1997 crop was $116 million, up 32 percent from 1996. The yield estimate was 18,800 pounds per acre. Michigan ranked third among states in apple output. Washington and New York orchardists produced 4.9 billion and 1.12 billion pounds of apples, respectively. Kent County has 20 percent of Michigan's apple acreage.

Tart cherry production hit the 225 million pound level, 78 percent of the national total. The yield in Michigan rose to 8,400 pounds per bearing acre, up from 7,140 pounds in 1996. Bearing acres slid by 500 to 26,800. Production exceeded original expectations. Set was just average, but drop was substantially less than normal. Freeze damage in the southwest resulted in low yields there. Yields and quality, however, in the west central and northwest were outstanding.

Sweet Cherry production rose 23 percent from 1996 to 27,000 tons; Washington, Oregon, and California produced 92,000, 50,000, and 49,200 tons, respectively. The Michigan sweet cherry crop had a farm-level value of $20 million.

Michigan's output of cultivated blueberry production was 76 million pounds, almost 44 percent of the U.S. total. The farm-level value was more than 53 million dollars, second among fruit species in Michigan.  Seventy-two percent of Michigan blueberries were frozen or canned. New Jersey growers produced 33 million pounds. Van Buren, Ottawa and Allegan Counties have about 83 percent of Michigan's acreage.

Peach production leaped to 61 million pounds in 1997 from 40 million pounds a year earlier. Value of the Michigan crop topped $16 million. Pear output fell from 6,000 to 4,000 tons. Plum output doubled from 1996 to 5,000 tons.

The production of grapes dropped 6 percent to 61,000 tons. There were 45,200 tons of Concords and 13,400 tons of Niagaras processed. Wine use rose to 2,600 tons, up from 1,600 in 1996. The crop was valued at more than $15 million. Michigan ranked fourth in grape production behind California, Washington, and New York. About 88 percent of Michigan's grape acreage is located in Berrien and Van Buren Counties.

The Michigan strawberry harvest was two to three weeks behind normal due to record cold May temperatures. This year's starting date was one of the latest in history. It was a short season due to hot, humid weather in June. Despite these unfavorable conditions, growers produced 98,000 hundredweight of fresh and processed strawberries in 1997, a 63 percent increase from last year's record low production.

Most of the state's strawberries are grown in the southern half the Lower Peninsula. The top five counties producing strawberries are: Berrien, Manistee, Oceana, Leelanau, and Kent. Michigan, along with Washington, ranked fifth nationally in all strawberry production. The amount of fresh market strawberries produced this year was 87,000 hundredweight, a 55 percent increase since 1996. Strawberry production for processing was 11,000 hundredweight, 175 percent higher than 1996.

Michigan Apple Yields Chart, 1977-97

Table 7.1 Fruit: Area, production, and value
Item Year Bearing
area 		Yield Total production Utilized production Price
received 		Value of production
Acres Pounds per acre Million pounds Million pounds Dollars per pound 1,000 dollars
Apples
 1993 55,000 18,500 1,020 1,020 0.085 86,760
1994 54,000 18,900 1,020 1,020 0.086 87,600
1995 54,000 22,600 1,220 1,220 0.099 120,680
1996 55,000 12,700 700 700 0.126 88,125
1997 55,000 19,100 1,050 1,050 0.095 99,750
Blueberries 1
 1993 15,500 5,610 87 87 0.398 34,650
1994 15,500 3,030 47 47 0.536 25,180
1995 16,300 4,110 67 67 0.499 33,450
1996 16,500 2,550 42 42 0.865 36,330
1997 17,000 4,470 76 76 0.700 53,198
Cherries, tart
 1993 33,000 8,180 270 215 0.114 24,610
1994 32,000 6,560 210 210 0.170 35,636
1995 30,000 10,300 310 250 0.054 13,448
1996 27,300 7,140 195 195 0.160 31,202
1997 26,800 8,400 225 221 0.156 34,380
Peaches
 1993 7,000 8,140 57 54 0.190 10,260
1994 5,500 2,730 15 15 0.227 3,400
1995 5,500 10,900 60 60 0.210 12,594
1996 5,600 7,140 40 40 0.272 10,870
1997 5,500 11,100 61 61 0.265 16,190
Acres Tons per
acre 		Tons Tons Dollars per ton 1,000 dollars
Cherries, sweet
 1993 7,500 4.00 30,000 27,000 693 18,717
1994 7,300 3.42 25,000 23,000 587 13,497
1995 7,300 3.70 27,000 27,000 581 15,700
1996 7,300 3.01 22,000 22,000 709 15,607
1997 7,000 3.86 27,000 27,000 740 19,986
Grapes
 1993 11,500 4.78 55,000 49,000 238 11,670
1994 11,700 5.56 65,000 65,000 229 14,860
1995 11,800 5.93 70,000 64,000 237 15,196
1996 11,900 5.46 65,000 59,500 228 13,555
1997 12,100 5.04 61,000 61,000 252 15,380
Pears
 1993 1,100 5.00 5,500 5,500 225 1,240
1994 1,000 4.50 4,500 4,500 279 1,255
1995 1,000 5.50 5,500 5,000 280 1,400
1996 1,000 6.00 6,000 6,000 260 1,560
1997 900 4.44 4,000 4,000 250 1,000
Plums
 1993 2,200 3.18 7,000 7,000 244 1,710
1994 1,800 3.33 6,000 6,000 166 993
1995 1,700 4.41 7,500 7,000 229 1,603
1996 1,300 1.92 2,500 2,500 335 837
1997 1,300 3.85 5,000 5,000 355 1,775
1 Harvested acres.

Table 7.2 Apples: Utilization and price
Year Fresh market Processing Total utilization
Quantity Price
received 		Quantity Price
received 		Quantity Price
received
Million
pounds 		Dollars per pound Million
pounds 		Dollars per pound Million
pounds 		Dollars per pound
1993
 360 0.120 660 0.066 1,020 0.085
1994
 320 0.125 700 0.068 1,020 0.086
1995
 400 0.150 820 0.073 1,220 0.099
1996
 225 0.170 475 0.105 700 0.126
1997
 300 0.150 750 0.073 1,050 0.095

Table 7.3 Apples, processing: Utilization and price
Year Canned Frozen Juice and cider Other
Quantity Price
received 		Quantity Price
received 		Quantity Price
received 		Quantity Price
received
Million
pounds 		Dollars per pound Million
pounds 		Dollars per pound Million
pounds 		Dollars per pound Million
pounds 		Dollars per pound
1993
 265 0.077 110 0.089 275 0.046 10 0.046
1994
 255 0.081 110 0.090 325 0.050 10 0.050
1995
 250 0.082 165 0.092 400 0.060 5 0.087
1996
 200 0.110 125 0.125 140 0.080 10 0.085
1997
 280 0.085 150 0.096 320 0.053 0

Table 7.4 Blueberries: Utilization and price
Year Production Fresh market Processed
Total Utilized Quantity Price
received 		Quantity Price
received
Million
pounds 		Million
pounds 		Million
pounds 		Dollars per pound Million
pounds 		Dollars per pound
1993
 87 87 19 0.750 68 0.300
1994
 47 47 15 0.740 32 0.440
1995
 67 67 19 0.750 48 0.400
1996
 42 42 15 1.000 27 0.790
1997
 76 76 21 0.988 55 0.590

Table 7.5 Cherries, sweet: Production and utilization
Year Total
production 		Utilized production
Fresh Canned Brined Other 1
Million pounds
1993
 60 2.4 4.0 41.2 6.4
1994
 50 2.2 4.6 31.8 7.4
1995
 54 2.0 5.6 40.6 5.8
1996
 44 1.0 2.4 33.6 7.0
1997
 54 1.0 1.6 43.0 8.4
1 Frozen, juice, etc.

Table 7.6 Cherries, tart: Utilization
Year Production Fresh market Utilization of sales
Processed
Total Utilized Canned Frozen Other
    Million pounds
1993
 270 215 3 70 135 7
1994
 210 210 2 80 125 3
1995
 310 250 1 70 160 19
1996
 195 195 1 55 135 4
1997
 225 221 1 65 150 5

Table 7.7 Cherries, tart: Production by region
Region 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
Million pounds
Northwest
 145 100 160 140 140
West Central
 89 53 97 35 70
Southwest and other
 36 57 53 20 15
State total
 270 210 310 195 225

Table 7.8 Cherries, tart: Stocks in cold storage
Month East North Central region 1 48 States total 2
Crop year Crop year
1994 1995 1996 1997 1994 1995 1996 1997
1,000 pounds 1,000 pounds
July
 111,275 108,166 78,289 83,634 143,112 131,704 103,795 105,283
August
 123,126 147,964 124,960 170,555 167,876 178,397 155,678 194,571
September
 114,268 134,726 121,793 144,201 150,058 162,583 151,751 168,173
October
 107,490 123,009 114,624 133,493 140,323 149,275 146,260 154,891
November
 98,549 115,886 108,223 129,212 127,642 141,057 137,226 148,945
December
 93,427 105,149 99,813 118,540 120,864 128,072 127,102 136,297
January
 90,968 94,729 88,843 112,934 112,901 116,522 112,844 131,171
February
 85,955 87,087 81,106 95,329 108,644 106,329 100,144 109,550
March
 79,684 75,906 72,915 87,516 101,754 92,823 90,809 100,284
April
 72,013 67,782 64,563 78,467 88,683 82,708 78,561 90,044
May
 66,148 55,896 57,579 72,696 80,660 68,846 70,508 83,160
June
 54,419 50,181 49,977 72,500 59,995 60,953
1 Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
2 Excluding Alaska and Hawaii.

Table 7.9 Grapes: Utilization
Year Fresh market utilization Processed utilization Utilized
production
Juice Wine
Tons
1993
 800 46,500 1,700 49,000
1994
 1,000 62,600 1,400 65,000
1995
 500 61,500 2,000 64,000
1996
 400 57,500 1,600 59,500
1997
 200 58,200 2,600 61,000

Table 7.10 Grapes: Processed by variety
Year Variety
Concord Niagara Other Total
Tons
1993
 39,500 6,800 1,900 48,200
1994
 54,100 8,600 1,300 64,000
1995
 50,300 11,200 2,000 63,500
1996
 47,500 10,000 1,600 59,100
1997
 45,200 13,400 2,200 60,800

Table 7.11 Plums: Production and utilization
Year Total production Utilized production
Fresh Processed
Tons
1993
 7,000 2,000 5,000
1994
 6,000 1,700 4,300
1995
 7,500 3,300 3,700
1996
 2,500 1,250 1,250
1997
 5,000 1,500 3,500

Table 7.12 Strawberries: Area, production, and value
Year Area Production Price
received 		Value of production
Planted Harvested Per acre Total
Acres Acres Cwt. 1,000 cwt. Dollars per cwt. 1,000 dollars
1993
 2,100 1,900 60 114 67.00 7,637
1994
 2,000 1,800 55 99 63.60 6,300
1995
 1,800 1,700 60 102 66.90 6,822
1996
 1,700 1,500 40 60 75.20 4,512
1997
 1,600 1,500 65 98 75.60 7,411

Table 7.13 Strawberries: Disposition and value
Year Fresh Market Processing
Production Price
received 		Value of production Production Price
received 		Value of production
1,000 cwt. Dollars per cwt. 1,000 dollars 1,000 cwt. Dollars per
cwt. 		1,000 dollars
1993
 92 74.40 6,845 22 36.00 792
1994
 81 70.00 5,670 18 35.00 630
1995
 90 71.00 6,390 12 36.00 432
1996
 56 78.00 4,368 4 36.00 144
1997
 87 80.00 6,960 11 41.00 451