We have found that there is a growing market for sour cherries.” Most of our trees produce sweet cherries, but we are planting additional sour cherry trees. “Altogether, we grow 59 varieties of cherries. “We grow both sweet and sour cherries,” said Frank Levering of Levering Orchard. Cherry trees were added beginning in 1972. The farm dates back to 1908, when the first apple trees were planted here. This farm includes about 33 acres of cherry trees as well as acres of additional fruits, including apples and peaches, among other crops. “Many were not raised on sugar, so the tart cherries are preferred over the sweet cherries.”Īnother farm that grows cherries in the region is Levering Orchard in Ararat, Va. “We’ve also found that individuals who had been raised in Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, and other areas of Eastern Europe love tart cherries,” he continued. “It’s tough for grocery stores to compete with farmers’ markets on this crop.” “Tart cherries have a short shelf life,” he said. He stated that tart cherries, in particular, sell well through these market channels. Selling very well at the weekend farm markets.” ![]() “They helped pick 2,400 pints of sweet cherries. “We had 21 volunteers come out to help pick the sweet cherries on June 18,” Gill said. In addition, the farm sells the fruit to area restaurants and caterers. ![]() He said most of the cherries grown at this farm are sold to consumers picking their own in the orchard or buying cherries at local farmers markets. “We produce 10 varieties of sweet cherries and three varieties of tart cherries.” Gill is also an Extension Specialist in IPM and Entomology at the University of Maryland Extension, Central Maryland Research and Education Center. “We have about 200 cherry trees,” said Stanton Gill of MacBride and Gill Falcon Ridge Farm. MacBride and Gill Falcon Ridge Farm in Westminster, Md., is one of the farms in Maryland that grows cherries. ![]() “The primary tart cherry producing state is Michigan, accounting for nearly 74 percent of tart cherry production.” “Washington, California and Oregon are the primary sweet cherry producing states, accounting for almost 90 percent of the quantity produced nationwide,” according to a statement from the USDA referencing 2020 statistics. In Virginia, the USDA reported that there were 67 farms growing sour cherries on 24 acres in 2017, and 39 farms producing this fruit on 19 acres in 2012. Sour cherries were grown on one farm in Delaware in both 20, according to the USDA. The USDA indicated that Maryland included 33 farms growing sour cherries on 58 acres in 2017, and 25 farms producing this crop on 56 acres in 2012. There were 139 farms growing sweet cherries on 112 acres in Virginia in 2017, according to the USDA, and 72 farms growing this crop on 47 acres in the commonwealth in 2012. In Delaware, the USDA indicated that there were four farms growing sweet cherries in 2017, and three farms growing sweet cherries in 2012. Throughout the three Delmarva states, according to the USDA, 48 farms grew sweet cherries on 88 acres in Maryland in 2017, and 39 farms grew sweet cherries on 68 acres in Maryland in 2012. Cherries - both sweet and sour (tart) - are modest crops on Delmarva in terms of acres, but a few hundred farmers grow the red fruit states.
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