Huge Crop Means Tart Cherries For Food Banks

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cherriesontree-2

With a bumper cherry crop in Michigan this year, Shoreline Fruit has donated 40,000 pounds of tart cherries to Feeding America of West Michigan. Bruce Veliquette is a Shoreline board member and owner of Cherry Ke Inc in Kewaydin.

“We had a large crop this year, and there’s a grower-supported federal marketing order that the tart cherry industry operates under,” says Veliquette. “When we have large crops, there are restrictions put on the crop. So one way to use up some of the crop is by donations.”

Veliquette says the cherries are being repackaged, frozen, and will be given out through 1,100 distribution centers.