CONKLIN, Mich. -- Apple farmers around West Michigan are grinning ear to ear. Just a few weeks into harvest and they're thinking this could be a record breaking apple crop.
Starting Sept. 1, Michigan apple farms have been very busy picking box after box of quality apples. The trees are so heavy that they have to be reinforced with trellis.
The abundant crop is thanks to a near perfect growing season starting back in April with little frost, leading up the recent and timely summer rain. FOX 17 checked in with Adam Dietrich of Dietrich and Sons farm in Conklin, whose 2016 predictions are a touch off.
“All of our predictions have been short. So we’re picking a little above estimate for our farm right now.”
For all Michigan apple farmers, including Dietrich, the Michigan Apple Committee and the U.S. Apple Committee are projecting a record crop of 31 million bushels, “That would be over 30 thousand truckloads of Michigan apples," says Dietrich.
A crop that big would mean that people as far away as Florida should be able to find Michigan apples well into next Spring.
It's a big year for Dietrich and sons, whose farm is over 150 years old.
“Grandma and grandpa will always say this year or that year was a bad crop year because of hail. Or this year was the biggest snow storm ever, but they’re really excited for us and they’re so proud and they can’t remember a year like this."
