Michigan’s sweet cherry industry lost about 75 percent of its crop in 2024 due to variable and extreme weather conditions. A mild winter followed by a warm and wet early growing season were ideal conditions for fungal diseases that are problematic in sweet cherries, such as American brown rot, a fast-growing pathogen that can become epidemic with warm and wet weather. In addition to disease, heavy rains at harvest caused cracking in sweet cherries, which severely limited their marketability.
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Tor Tolhurst
