TRAVERSE CITY, Mich., Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Tart cherry farmers near Traverse City, Mich., and in six other states are as sour as their fruit over a mandate they must not harvest the whole crop, one said.
Rob Manigold, one of the Michigan farmers who grow 75 percent of the sour cherry crop in the United States, said it could be a record year, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Growers in Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Wisconsin, Utah and Washington are expecting a bumper crop of about 284 million pounds of sour cherries, but were told by fruit processors to leave up to 40 percent unharvested.
A Depression-era federal marketing program has regulated sour cherry growing since 1933. The program, designed to keep prices from dropping, will keep the fruit rotting in orchards instead of in cherry pies.
Between the failing economy and increasing health consciousness, the demand for desserts has dropped. Sour cherries are generally not eaten raw, but are used in pies and other desserts.
