Coming weeks will be big for Michigan farmers hoping to have successful fruit harvest
(CBS DETROIT) - "I am petrified. This reminds me very much of 2012. We lost a whole year's worth of crops, and this reminds me very much of that year," says Ken Schramm, the owner of Schramm's Orchards and also the head mead maker at Schramm's Mead.
Schramm says the rest of March will dictate the rest of this year's crop with fruits like apples, cherries, and plums. He says because of the warm temperatures and mild winter, the trees and bushes have come out of dormancy, with bulbs and buds getting closer to sprouting. The more they sprout, the less they can endure freezing temperatures.
"I'm worried about a potential 100% loss this year," Schramm said.
With an outlook on the rest of March, we came back to headquarters with meteorologist Ahmad Bajjey, who says that, at least for the rest of the month, temperatures don't look promising.
"That can be a big worry for a lot of the farmers. The hope is that we can stay closer to average, stay closer to freezing and above for both the day and the night. It's cold, there might be some damage, but then there wouldn't be as drastic of a loss but there is some concern for cold through the end of the month," Bajjey says.
Schramm added that for now he's staying optimistic. If there is a major loss this year, he says he'll have to stretch money from last year to get by and get whatever fruit is harvestable this year, if any, into bottles of mead.
