The snow has (mostly) melted and the ground is slowly warming, making these early spring days in northern Michigan the time when growers assess winter’s wrath on perennial crops and others in agriculture shift into high gear for the 2015 season.

For this first food and farming preview of 2015, The Ticker checks in with a few members of the ag community to see how they are feeling post-winter as well as what’s new this year.

The Grape Report
Will this season’s grape harvest be as diminished as 2014, thanks to a second straight February deep freeze?

Chateau Chantal Vineyard Manager Paul Dalese spent some time in the vineyards last week evaluating bud mortality.

“At this point, it looked like about 40 percent of the buds across five different vineyard sites were viable, meaning we could get up to a 40 percent crop,” CEO Marie-Chantal Dalese tells The Ticker.

This early spring check-up is far from definitive, Dalese stresses, until the vineyards weather any frosts after budding. “I’m not banking on these figures just yet, but it provides a glimmer of hope anyhow,” she adds.

Because this is the second straight year of cold extremes, the vines “should be a little more hearty from the previous year’s exposure – something that might work to our benefit a little,” Dalese says.

Like vineyards across the peninsulas, Chateau Chantal experienced a significant fruit loss last year, ultimately yielding only a 20 percent crop.

While Lorri Hathaway says there are no confirmed figures yet available on how the grapes withstood winter on the Leelanau Peninsula, that uncertainty is nothing new.

“Though the buzz is all over the cold winter, northern Michigan winemakers always live on the edge,” says Hathaway, director of the Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association.

But smaller crops are likely to be the reality once again.

“Consumers can expect lower quantities yet high quality wines and maybe some new and creative styles,” adds Hathaway.

Hops: More Acreage, Rare Varieties
The local hop growing industry will experience a serious bump in production this year with the arrival of MI Local Hops in Acme Township, which plans to plant hops on approximately 200 acres this spring – that translates to a nearly 50 percent increase in the estimated 400 acres of hops grown throughout Michigan.

Then there are small growers such as New Mission Organics, a 30-acre farm in Omena that specializes in organic and sustainably grown hops. Co-owner Brian Tennis says there is growing demand by smaller farms to differentiate themselves from the bigger growers, both in state and out.

To meet that demand, Tennis this summer will begin selling certified organic plants to those farmers. He is also planting “the weirdest stuff” he can find – rare varieties from Japan, Kazakhstan, France and New Zealand – also as a method of distinction.

Ready, Set, Plant!
Across the county, farmer Reid Johnston likes what he sees so far this spring.

“The weather is very encouraging,” says Johnston, owner of Second Spring Farm, an organic operation in Cedar. “It looks like the ground will be warming early and allowing us to plant two to three weeks earlier than the past few springs.”

That earlier start will translate to greater diversity of crops for early season farmers markets, Johnston says, adding that the sunny weather is giving the seedlings in his greenhouse a boost as well.

Local Grains
“Oil man” Bill Koucky has grain on the brain. The founder of Grand Traverse Culinary Oils expanded into the flour business last summer when he harvested 40,000 pounds of hard red spring wheat grown on 25 acres at a Leelanau County farm – after being told it wouldn’t grow here.

He purchased a mill and sifter and produced enough flour to sell to 9 Bean Rows Bakery in Suttons Bay and Crooked Tree Breadworks in Petoskey.

This spring, Koucky hopes to get at least 100 acres of the wheat in the ground to meet the demand for whole grain flour, and he’s adding a second, larger mill.

“Some of the best local bakers in the area have embraced the flour and are making great bread from grain grown right here in northern Michigan,” says Koucky.