July 2021 - 1

Nematode 'ranching
workshop' helps
cranberry growers
Michigan growers eye
value-added, food
processing
10
14
24
Normalcy elusive as
farm operations
press on
July 2021 | Volume 60 |
Issue 7
Off to a good tart
Michigan cherry grower sees large crop in tough year
Gary, left, and Justin Hunsberger monitor their tart cherry crop at Hunsberger Farms in Fennville, Michigan. Photos: Gary Pullano
By Gary Pullano
Editor
Late spring frosts took a bite out of
the cherry harvest in much of Michigan,
leaving many farms without any cherries
at all.
Fennville, Michigan, tart cherry
grower Hunsberger Farms was one
of the fortunate operations, setting
a voluminous crop that left Gary
Hunsberger and his son, Justin, in
position to analyze what might have led
to their good fortune.
" Everything just did what it was
supposed to do, " Gary said during a
mid-June tour of their orchards. " All
of this farming is a moving target. If
you hit it just right, or do things just
right, sometimes it comes out good and
sometimes it doesn't. This year, with the
cold weather, the hit and miss warm
days, we had a good warm day at the
start of the bloom. We got cold for four
or five days, and I said, 'I don't know
about that.'
" And then, we had another warm day
and the last 25-30% of the bloom came
out, " he said. " We had another nice day
for pollination. I said to Justin, 'I think
we could have a good crop of cherries.' It
was probably two or three weeks, what
seemed like a long time in the shuck. It
just stayed cold with freezing cold winds.
For that kind of spring, I didn't figure we
would have anything. Then the weather
started turning around, they started
coming out of the shuck and things
started to grow.
" I said, 'Wow.' This crop here is once
in 30 years. We have a crop, and the state
of Michigan does not have a crop. It's
once in a lifetime, but sometimes once in
a lifetime doesn't come to some people.
We're more than fortunate that we were
able to get it in a year that's going to be
like this year, because we're going to get
paid something. I'm happy for where
we're at, what we're doing. Everything
lined up right. I'd like to see a little bit
more rain coming in, but I'd like to keep
the storms away. "
A growing legacy
Donald and Helen Hunsberger
purchased the farm in 1954, a year
before Gary was born. " And I haven't
left. Justin will be the third generation in
the farming industry here. "
" I think grandpa was just a little
Hunsberger Farms' tart cherries survived
spring freeze events.
crazy, " Justin Hunsberger said. " He lost
part of his leg in World War II. For
some reason, he wanted to be a farmer
in Fennville. I don't think I would have
made that decision if I had lost a leg in
a war. "
" They did hard things back then,
years ago, " Gary Hunsberger recalled.
" Now, they can't run up to the line
fast enough, but back then, everybody
See CHERRIES, page 5

July 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2021

July 2021 - 1
July 2021 - 2
July 2021 - 3
July 2021 - 4
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