Northern Michigan FruitNet 2002
Weekly Update
James E. Nugent      Gary E. Thornton       William M. Klein
NW Michigan Horticultural Research Station
Michigan State University

May 14, 2002

Year        2002      2001      2000      1999      1998      1997
GDD42     275       428         494        464         514        220
GDD45     204       338         380        357         401        154
GDD50     128       222         234        217         249         77

WEATHER
Weather this past week has been very cool, generally windy with precipitation recorded on 5 of the 7 days at the NWMHRS. Conditions for pollination have been very poor.

GROWTH STAGES
Apple: Red Delicious—pink
Pear: Bartlett – white bud
Sweet Cherry: Napoleon – petal fall
Tart Cherry: Montmorency –10% bloom
Plum: European type – full bloom
Grapes: Chardonnay – late bud swell

COMMODITY REPORTS

Apple: The recent rains of Sunday and Monday provided enough wetness and high humidity to result in light to moderate infection period for apple scab, depending on your location. Spotted tentiform leafminers averaged 7/trap. Occasional apple grain aphids can be found.

Cherry: Sweet crop potential varies greatly by variety and site with Gold generally showing the least freeze damage; pollination conditions poor. Significant freeze damage reported to tart crop last week in Utah. Northwest Michigan tarts in early bloom. Leaf spot is a concern on sweet cherries and Balaton cherries that have leaves that are fully expanded. Montmorency does not, at this time, have enough leaf surface unfurled. The recent rains did not result in a leaf spot infection. Adult green fruit worm continue to fly.

Pear psylla nymphs are starting to hatch in pear orchards.

The wet, cool spring has been ideal for slugs. Many homeowners have reported them. Strawberry growers should be regularly scouting for this pest and take control action if necessary.

USDA SCHOOL LUNCH PURCHASE OF TART CHERRIES
By Jim Nugent

The USDA school lunch program recently announced an intent to purchase tart cherries in a variety of forms, including various packs of IQF, 5+1, dried and waterpack. If bids for all of the products are accepted, the raw product equivalent (RPE) using CIAB conversion factors would be 24,772,347 lbs. This figure is calculated utilizing the CIAB's newly adopted very low conversion factor from RPE to dried, so is likely a conservative estimate of potential RPE. Fruit for this bid can come from either the 2001 or 2002 crops.
 

VOTE SET FOR AMENDMENTS TO TART CHERRY FMO
By Jim Nugent

USDA announced that a referendum will be conducted May 20-31 to determine support for proposed amendments to the tart cherry Federal Marketing Order (FMO). Ballots will be mailed by USDA to all known tart cherry growers and processors in the order's production area. USDA has indicated to the CIAB that the amendments that are approved by the industry will be made effective for this season.

One proposed amendment would lower the production threshold - the basis for which districts within the production area are subject to volume regulation - from 15 million pounds to six million pounds.

Other proposed amendments would: make shipments of cherry juice and juice concentrate to certain markets eligible to receive diversion credit; change provisions related to alternate board members serving for absent members at board meetings; make all processed cherries subject to assessments; and eliminate the requirement that different assessment rates be established for different cherry products. Other amendments pertain to allocation of board membership; clarification of order provisions relating to exemption and diversion; release of cherries in the inventory reserve; and the use of crop estimates other than the official USDA crop estimate in developing the board's marketing policy.

The amendments to the order will become effective only if approved by at least two-thirds of those growers voting in the referendum, or by growers producing at least two-thirds of the volume of tart cherries represented in the referendum, and grown during a period set by USDA. To be eligible to vote in the referendum, growers must currently be tart cherry producers, and they must have produced tart cherries in the production area during the period June 1, 2000, through May 31, 2001. In addition, processors of tart cherries who have frozen or canned more than 50 percent of the total volume of cherries would have to vote in favor of the amendments for them to be issued.

Copies of the proposed amendments may be obtained from Anne Dec, AMS Fruit and Vegetable Programs, USDA Stop 0237, 1400 Independence Ave. SW, Washington DC 20250-0237; tel. (202) 720-2491; fax (202) 720-8938 or via the web at www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/frcont02.html – then click on date (May 10, 2002) and PDF for Adobe format.

CERTIFY FRUIT CROPS WITH FSA
By Debi Stephens, FSA

From now until July 15, 2002 farmers should be certifying crops grown for harvest in 2002. For those of you that may not have certified your crops before, I would encourage you to do so this year, especially if the crop may have been damaged by a weather related event.

PLEASE NOTE: No adhoc disaster program legislation has been introduced at this time, for 2002 crops, however, I have watched many times when the program is introduced 1-2 years after the fact and then what I am about to write next comes into play.

Many USDA Programs, often made available at later dates seem to have certification and yield reporting as a criteria and often if you have not established an Actual Production History for your farm-with any crop-grains, forage, fruit, or vegetables your farm is stuck utilizing state established yields. For producers with above average (high yield), this is NOT a good thing.

Here is an example. If your tart cherry orchard averages (4-10 years) 12,000 lb. per acre and you did not have an established APH for the 2000 crop disaster program, the procedure required FSA to utilize a state average of 7960 lb. per acre, before any age/spacing reductions were applied. Let's say no additional reductions applied, and the orchard production was 5,500 lb., representing a 60%+ loss of production for the farm. This example would not have qualified for a payment because the production was not below the established loss threshold of 5,174 lb. per ac. When using state average numbers.

While the example I gave is for cherries, a similar formula applies for grapes, peaches, cucumbers, strawberries, plums, Christmas trees, fish, maple sap taps, and bees. (any crops grown and harvested in our area when Crop Insurance Policies are not available)

Apples are an insurable crop in our region so the production history for apples grown must be kept with the insurance company. We would still encourage crop certification for the apple orchard.

When fruits and/or vegetables are grown on Production Flexibility Contract farms, Crop Certification is a requirement of the contract. The Conservation Reserve Program(CRP) and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) acreage is also required by the contract to be certified, annually.

If you are interested in certifying crops please phone Lori Kwasky at our office. Lori's number is 941-0951 x 104. She will set up an appointment time. Remember July 15, 2002 is the last date to certify 2002 and submit yield data for establishing a production history.

I would strongly encourage you to take the necessary steps to establish a Farm Actual Production History (APH) on all crops to be harvested in 2002.

Please send any comments or suggestions regarding this site to: 

Bill Klein, kleinw@pilot.msu.edu
Last Revised: 5-14-02