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Business & Tech

Apple Crop Shortage Hits Home

A spring freeze has resulted in the smallest harvest in Michigan since 1945, raising prices on apples at Metro Detroit orchards and meaning fewer of the state-grown fruits at Berkley grocery stores.

Wild weather this spring that devastated Michigan's apple crop is having a mixed impact on the price and availability of the crunchy fruits this fall, according to Metro Detroit purveyors.

Grocers in Berkley have been able to hold prices steady, but are offering fewer state-grown apples; Metro Detroit orchard owners have had to import the fruits; and one popular pie company has seen the cost of its products increase.

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Orchards hit hard

Apple prices have gone up after a spring freeze resulted in the smallest apple crop in the state since 1945, said Pete Blake, co-owner of Blake’s Orchard and Cider Mill in Armada.

A week of 90-degree temperatures in March caused the trees to bloom early. Then, a series of cold April nights killed those apple blossoms.

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“The trees are still fine for next year, but it takes the crop for this year,” Blake said.

Blake’s was able to harvest 20-25 percent of their apple crop this season, expecting about 10,000 bushels. An ideal season at Blake’s would yield about 50,000 bushels.

But Blake assures orchard patrons that there will not be a shortage of apples, candy apples or apple cider, as the orchard is buying apples and cider from orchards in West Michigan for “considerably” higher prices, resulting in a roughly 25 percent price hike this year for orchard patrons.

“We added new stuff this year because we knew it was going to be a light apple crop,” he said. “But we want to get it out there that the apples, apple cider and activities are out in full force.”

Blake recommends customers come early this fall because the orchard may run out of certain varieties of apples and products. Patrons can still pick their own apples, but Blake predicts apples in the trees may be gone by mid-October. Red raspberries are also available for customers to pick.

Other orchards have experience similar travails.

  • Erwin Orchards and cider mill in South Lyon, which remains open, lost its entire crop and is working to fill the gap by importing produce. "We have purchased apples from a farm on the west side of the state and are pressing cider with Michigan grown apples," reads a notice on the orchard's website. Visitors also can pick raspberries and pumpkins grown at Erwin Orchards and participate in a variety of fall activities including wagon rides, a corn maze and a petting farm.
  • Fenton Patch reported in June that Mueller’s Orchard & Cider Mill in Linden/Fenton Township won't open this year for the first time since 1941 due to the destructive weather.
  • Nearby Spicer Orchards, which is open with a variety of apples and activities available this fall, experienced its worst crop since 1945, according to Fenton Patch.

The annual economic impact of the state's apple industry is estimated at $800 million, according to the Michigan Department of Agriculture.

Berkley grocers see limited impact

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