September 2019 - 20

BLUEBERRY
Michigan growers' research fund off to a healthy start
By Stephen Kloosterman
Associate Editor
With new research on the way, and a
promising crop in the field, it's a good year
to be a Michigan blueberry grower.
Halfway through the harvest season,
all indications were for good total yields.
Michigan's spring rains make seasons more
touch-and-go, so growers had to react
quickly to protect their plants from disease.
" Harvest is going well, " said Kevin
Robson, executive director of the Michigan
Blueberry Commission (MBC). " This
season, with all the rain that we had early
on, for many other commodities posed a
lot of problems. For the blueberry industry,
our growers were definitely living in
their sprayers, there's no question about
it, making sure that there was adequate
coverage and making sure we're providing
a high quality of fruit to market. "
A good crop for Michigan is in the
neighborhood of 100 million pounds per
year, Robson said. The 2018 crop was only
68 million pounds.
At the same time, the MBC is making
progress on several new initiatives
designed to help its members. The
commission is a legal entity formed by a
grower-initiated process outlined in the
Agricultural Commodities Marketing Act.
In May 2017, growers voted to establish
and fund the commission.
Creela O. Hamlin is a fifth-generation
farmer who with her husband grows
blueberries at Lake Michigan Berry, and
while she was busy with the harvest in
mid-August, she recounted how the
commission had come together more than
two years ago.
" As a group of growers, we saw a need
for focused research that would directly
aid Michigan growers, some of our unique
growing circumstances, whether it be our
soil types or replanting, varieties, pest
issues - having really specific research
to meet the needs of our industry, " said
Hamlin, who is chairwoman of the board.
The commission gives growers a seat
at the table when decisions are made, for
instance, a search to replace a retiring
Extension professor.
The commission collects an assessment
from Michigan growers - 0.003 cents
per pound on farms that produce 50,000
pounds or more - to raise money for
the research, and that investment, in
turn, helps prime the pump for other
funding opportunities. Robson said the
commission currently has more than
$300,000 worth of grants and support
disbursed, with over two-thirds of that
amount being grant dollars that other
granting institutions will repay.
" The grower financial commitment to
The blueberry harvest in southwest Michigan. Photo: Mark Longstroth
the projects opens up the door for a lot
of matching funds and we've been able to
leverage the grower assessment dollars to
have a lot more money for these projects due
to that, sometimes doubling and tripling our
grower assessment dollars, " Hamlin said.
Among the projects underway are a
study by Michigan State University (MSU)
entomologist Rufus Isaacs to research
control of blueberry stem gall wasp, which
seem to prefer Jersey, a cultivar that's
popular with Michigan growers.
" Our growers have had a tough time
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controlling that, eradicating it, " Robson
said. No chemical sprays are available for
control, and so many growers are going
through plots and hand-pruning galls out
of the bushes.
Other pathogens of concern to Michigan
blueberry growers are spotted wing
drosophila, mummy berry and phomopsis.
The MBC has made possible the
funding of a new 3.5-acre research
blueberry planting at MSU's Trevor
Nichols Research Center (TNRC) in
Fennville. MBC provided a $30,000
match to a $99,300 Rural Development
Grant from the Michigan Department
of Agriculture & Rural Development.
" This planting nearly doubles the
blueberry acreage at TNRC that is available
for scientists to conduct research, " said
John Wise, TNRC research and Extension
coordinator. Many different MSU
researchers, including entomologists, plant
pathologists and weed scientists, will have
access to the plot.
" For the last five years, we've needed
to go off the research station and use
non-commercial, privately owned
blueberry patches, " Wise said. While
certain kinds of experiments and trials
can be run at growers' farms, others
cannot, for instance, pesticide trials that
require a heavy proliferation of diseases
or insect pests.
Wise said the soil amendments were
incorporated last year. This summer, a
contractor is installing planting beds,
irrigation and the bushes - Blueray, Aurora
and Elliott - will be planted in the fall.
In July, the MBC held a tour for
EPA decisionmakers that included a
demonstration of mechanical harvesting
at Bodtke Farms near South Haven.
" That was something that these folks
from the EPA have just never seen
before, " Robson said. " They were so
impressed at our diversity of agriculture.
They really see how important the
different labels are, and the work that
they do. While it is so important for the
sustainability of agriculture, they also
got to see the real-world implications of
the decisions they make. We were really
proud of that. " FGN
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September 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2019
