By
Kimberly Warren
Managing Editor
The
LaCross family came into cherry farming through the backdoor –
Glenn LaCross a real estate agent and Judy LaCross an English teacher.
But, more than 30 years later, they’re making a name for themselves
in the industry. In fact, Glenn and Judy have been named Cherry Industry
Couple of the Year for 2004 by the National Cherry Festival.
“This is very much an honor,” Judy said. “There
are some very deserving people out there.”
Numerous letters were sent to the National Cherry Festival selection
committee in support of the LaCrosses, and in July, they will receive
their award.
But just how the LaCrosses came to this point involves going back
to when Glenn was just 16 years old. When most boys his age were out
being teen-agers, Glenn was leasing and managing a farm.
“It’s unbelievable,” Judy said. “You just
wouldn’t think of taking over a farm at 16.”
And at that time, Judy was growing up on her family’s dairy
farm – a background that Judy said made her long for the country
in her later years.
Around the early 1970s, the real estate market was beginning to slow
down, and the LaCrosses were able to purchase some land at a reasonable
price. They wanted room for their horses to run and found a farm that
happened to have some acres of cherries. Eventually, they purchased
more and more land so that cherry farming became more of a full-time
job and less of a hobby. So Glenn phased out of real estate to do
something he found more rewarding, and Judy chose to give up her teaching
position to stay home with the children and help on the farm. Today,
they own 750 acres in Leelanau County.
“Being a farm girl, I can’t imagine living anywhere else
but the country,” Judy said. “We just kind of evolved
into it. It has given me a lot of freedom to be with my children and
my family.”
During harvest time Judy works at the farm’s receiving station
where she does grading as well as processing the paperwork, along
with son Ben, who has a business degree and is now the farm manager.
Year-round, she manages the farm office and said she tries to keep
the men organized.
“It has really evolved into a partnership of cherry farming,”
Judy said.
Glenn said his favorite part of farming is turning new corners in
the industry – from new technology to new products to new uses
for cherries. Take, for example, the recent studies of health benefits
of cherries.
“Concentrate gives us a whole new category with our tart cherries,”
Glenn said. “We start with a low grade cherry, and we’ve
never had a market in that area for cherries – it’s exciting
to have what the apple industry has always had with their juice.”
Glenn is also the president and major stockholder of Leelanau Fruit
Company, where they produce cherry juice concentrate.
Another area of the industry that will encourage growth is the dried
cherry sector, Glenn said. So far, Judy said, it’s the upscale
restaurants and gourmet shops that are taking the dried cherries and
running with them. With government purchases of dried cherries for
the school lunch program, it is hoped that kids will catch on to them,
Judy said.
“We just have to be ready to give the customers whatever they
ask for next,” he said. “Health benefits are what will
stimulate industry growth.”
The dessert category for cherries is one the LaCrosses said will continue
to have challenges as more people become more health conscious and
start watching what they eat. And with the low-carb dieting that ‘s
going on, Glenn said that is going to be a challenge for the whole
dessert industry.
“We are going to have to get there without the sugars,”
he said. “We’re going to have to get creative.”
“It’s like whole industries can be devastated revolving
around the whim of people’s diets – nothing’s secure,”
Judy added. “The emphasis on better health for this country
propels people.”
Another aspect playing into the cherry industry’s change from
a dessert industry to a health food industry is the fact that people
don’t cook as much anymore. Who’s going to make a cherry
pie these days, Judy asked.
“We feel like we’re riding the crest of a wave and we
don’t know where it will take us,” she said.
The LaCrosses also have a large planting of Balaton cherries. And
trying out new varieties is something that will help the industry
continue, Glenn said.
“We’re very encouraged with the cherry, but not very encouraged
with the market,” he said. “It’s really hard to
get users to consider new varieties – but we need a major user
to look at the Balaton. Balaton is a very versatile cherry.”
But no matter how versatile, how innovative the whole cherry industry
is, there will continue to be increased pressures from international
sources. And it has to do with supply and demand.
“I think we’ve opened the doors for it (international
competition) with the lack of crop in 2002, and we’ll see a
world market more than in the past,” he said. “Free trade
does not help our cause. We’ve been an industry that has always
looked at exporting, not importing.”
Glenn said the most difficulties come in dealing with trade with underdeveloped
nations that are not at U.S. standards of production. Relationships
with other developed countries like Europe and Japan still need to
be groomed, Glenn said.
Working in processing, managing the farm and looking at the world
market all allow Glenn to do something he said he loves: a bit of
everything.
“Glenn has different hats in his pick-up and puts them on as
he’s driving, depending on what he’ll be doing,”
Judy said. “To get him to go through a stack of papers is hard
because he’d rather be out there doing something or finding
something new.”
Just as Glenn is always focusing on new aspects of the industry, like
technology and new varieties, Judy said she is perfectly content perfecting
what they have.
“Our personalities are opposite,” she said. “I’d
rather stick to the tried and true and have one thing settled before
moving on. But Glenn, if something new is out there – go for
it.”
Glenn and Judy have three children – two daughters and a son.
Their son, Ben, is an active member on the farm and has taken an interest
in farming.
“Our greatest accomplishment is our family,” Judy said.
“We have three great kids who are accomplished and have good
values. If you have to leave a legacy, that’s what you want
to leave – nothing else is permanent.”
