US fruit farmers issue warning over emerging threat to this year's harvests: 'It could be very devastating'
Michigan farmers say recent warm weather could trick fruit crops into starting to bud too early. This is especially troubling for apple orchards, which cover approximately 38,000 acres in the region.
"It could be very devastating if they've started to begin blooming," apple farmer Jim Flore told WLNS 6. "As soon as the bud starts to come out, it doesn't have that protective shield of the covering around the bud, so then it becomes very vulnerable."
According to the Michigan Ag Council, apples are "one of the largest and most valuable fruit crops in Michigan." Normally, apple trees bud in late April or early May. But when unseasonably warm weather hits, these trees may bud early. If that warm weather is followed by a late frost, those buds can become severely damaged and die.
Experts say this type of weather pattern is becoming more common due to climate instability.
"What's happened over time is that we do see these earlier and earlier warming ups, yet the last frost date really hasn't moved that much," William Baird, chairperson of the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University, told WLNS 6.
Several consecutive days of early warm weather are of particular concern, as it only takes a short stretch of mild temperatures to encourage trees to bud. Flore told WLNS 6 that while his crops are mostly safe for now, a few more weeks of above-average temperatures could change that.
Michigan's current struggle with unseasonably warm weather highlights a growing conflict between climate instability and nature's timing. Fruit trees have adapted to bloom at specific times when the risk of frost is low. But fluctuating global temperatures can confuse these instincts, leading crops to die off due to weather changes. This can severely impact crop yield, produce availability and price, and farmers' livelihoods.
Apples are core to Michigan's agriculture, with the state ranking second in the nation for apple production. The Michigan Ag Council said the "economic impact of apples is substantial" to the state. And that makes any threat to the region's apple orchards especially concerning.
But this isn't an issue isolated to Michigan's apple orchards. Rising global temperatures are increasing weather unpredictability for farmers around the world. While farmers can implement various prevention methods to help mitigate risks associated with extreme temperature fluctuations, these methods increase agricultural costs and don't have guaranteed results.
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Farmers have adopted a range of strategies to cope with planetary warming, including planting cover crops, using irrigation sprinklers for frost protection, and maintaining soil temperature with mulch. Orchards are a little trickier to protect, but the University of California reported wind machines and orchard heaters have helped protect avocado crops from frost. Apple farmers and other orchard growers have employed these protective tactics, too.
According to Energy Innovation, many farmers are investing in crop insurance to mitigate the financial risk associated with increasingly unpredictable weather.
At the same time, more resilient crop varieties are being developed and introduced into farming to better withstand the effects of a warming climate. Farmers are also adjusting their planting schedules to account for earlier warm weather.
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