Cherry

Michigan Cherry Industry Research Priorities

Submitted by:
Cherry Marketing Institute
12800 Escanaba Drive, Suite A
Dewitt, MI  48820

Current and Future Plant Protection Issues

  • IPM Strategies for Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD). 
  • Disease protection (alternatives for increasingly difficult disease resistance to SI’s and SDI’s including leaf spot, brown rot and mildew).
  • Insect protection (Plum Curculio, Cherry Fruit Fly, Mites & OBLR) via chemical and IPM efforts, basic biology & genetics.
  • MRL issues that impact the export markets.
  • Ground cover and weed management.
  • Breeding program (leaf spot, Armillaria, etc.).
  • Orchard replant issues.

Current and Future Cherry Marketing Issues

  • New and expanded uses of cherries – both sweet and tart cherries.
  • Varieties and/or production practices to discover or improve marketable traits, i.e., firmer texture, nutraceutical content, larger size, fresh market, sugar/acid balance, color etc. (high density plantings)
  • Production development (IPM / Sustainability).
  • Market research.
  • Pits and ways to reduce them in finished product.
  • Production trends world-wide.

Other Current Production Issues

  • Computerized weather station networks including new locations and new models.
  • Fruit set, growth regulators.
  • High density production & harvest management.
  • Bacterial Canker.
  • Orchard nutrient management, rootstock, photosynthesis with regard to soft fruit.
  • Irrigation efficiency.
  • Frost protection/delayed bloom.
  • Wild life management issues in tree fruit.

 

Last Updated: September 2015