Cherries growers hopeful for big crop after total loss in 2024
Bruce Johnson inspects a row of lapins cherry trees at Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Bruce Johnson looks over a section of apple trees with his puppy Stryder at Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Bruce Johnson looks over a blossoming lapins cherry tree at Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
A hive of bees rests on a platform in a row of lapins cherry trees at Bruce Johnson's Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Bruce Johnson looks over a young sweetheart cherry tree with his puppy Stryder at Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Bruce Johnson looks over a blossoming lapins cherry tree at Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Bruce Johnson inspects a lapins cherry blossom at Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Bruce Johnson looks over a blossoming lapins cherry tree at Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Bruce Johnson looks over a section of apple trees with his puppy Stryder at Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Bruce Johnson looks over a blossoming lapins cherry tree at Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
The rows of cherry trees at Buena Vista Orchard in Bigfork last week were flaunting thousands of buds of the delicate white flowers that will eventually turn to delicious fruit this summer.
The picturesque scene offered a stark difference from last year, when a harsh January freeze stopped the flowers from developing at orchards along Flathead Lake. After a near total loss in 2024, local cherry growers anticipate a solid comeback this year, beginning with the peak bloom at the end of this week and into the next.
“There’s buds all over the place,” Bruce Johnson, owner of Buena Vista Orchard and board member of Flathead Cherry Grower’s Co-op, said while inspecting a branch. “This year, the chance is there.”
The east shore of Flathead Lake is unique in its ability to grow cherries, where fruit trees absorb calmer weather due to Flathead Lake. The lake acts as a “heat sink,” Johnson explained, moderating weather that comes across it. While temperatures could be below zero in Kalispell or Lakeside, they are often higher south of Bigfork, where cherry orchards cover the land on either side of Montana 35.
“That usually holds true, that moderate effect,” Johnson said. “But that did not hold true last year.”
Johnson produced 3,000 pounds of cherries in 2024, only 10% of a normal year’s crop. And he was one of the luckier ones, he said, with a lot of orchards having a total loss season.
“I’ve never seen a year that bad,” Johnson reflected on his 25 years as an orchardist, walking the rows of trees that survived.
At the time it had been 33 years since the last big freeze in 1991 that affected orchards around Flathead Lake. Severe drops in temperature freeze the existing blossoms so pollination can’t happen, an essential process for the continuation of growth. As a result, like springtime last year, the trees grew leaves but no flowers, meaning no cherries.
“This year our winter was a little more normal and we didn't have the severe drop in temperature. We had some cold weather, but it was gradual. These trees can handle cold weather, as long as there is not an abrupt change,” said Brian Campbell, a Flathead cherry grower and field representative for Monson Fruit Company, the Washington-based company that helps growers process their crop.
Campbell predicted that if spring weather continues to be pleasant, growers will be looking at a potentially very big crop this year.
Monson Fruit Company collects 80% of Flathead Cherry Growers Co-op harvests, which are processed, packaged and marketed at a price determined by surrounding cherry crops, mainly in Washington. They sell cherries domestically and some internationally.
A new challenge this year will be navigating the sale of international cherries to countries affected by President Donald Trump's elevated tariffs. With the intention of boosting the manufacturing capabilities of the United States, the tariffs have alternatively thrown the global economy into uncertainty with higher prices.
“I can’t foresee how [tariffs] would help us,” Campbell said.
He said that Monson does not distribute many cherries to China, but they do sell to Canada and Mexico, which were also targeted by Trump's tariffs.
This year’s harvest could peak at the end of July into August. Orchardists anticipate stocked cherry stands along the east shore of Flathead Lake at that time.
“Last year people got wind that there was no crop, so a lot of people didn't make the effort to come buy cherries apparently,” Campbell said. “This year will be really good for that.”
Reporter Kate Heston may be reached at 758-4459 or kheston@dailyinterlake.com.
Bruce Johnson looks over a section of apple trees with his puppy Stryder at Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Bruce Johnson looks over a blossoming lapins cherry tree at Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
A hive of bees rests on a platform in a row of lapins cherry trees at Bruce Johnson's Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Bruce Johnson looks over a young sweetheart cherry tree with his puppy Stryder at Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Bruce Johnson looks over a blossoming lapins cherry tree at Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Bruce Johnson inspects a lapins cherry blossom at Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Bruce Johnson looks over a blossoming lapins cherry tree at Buena Vista Orchard on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider