Summer without cherry pie? Michigan’s signature crop faces battery of threats

Michigan’s cherry farmers are in dire straits. Climate change, development, labor shortages and tariffs threaten their ability to grow one of Michigan’s signature crops. Photograph: Romulo Yanes/Getty Images

Nearly 100 years ago, north-west Michigan cherry farmers and Traverse City community leaders started a festival to promote the city and their region’s tart cherry crop as a tourist destination.

Now known as the “cherry capital of the world”, Traverse City’s National Cherry Festival draws 500,000 visitors over eight days to this picturesque Lake Michigan beach town to enjoy carnival rides and airshows, and to eat cherries. It also sparked a thriving agrotourism industry amid its rolling hills that now boasts dozens of shops, wineries, U-pick orchards, and farm-to-table restaurants helmed by James Beard-award-winning chefs.