TALLMADGE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The apple barns at Wells Orchards were still full on Wednesday, even as a late-winter snow blustered across the farm.
"A good problem to have," according to Michael Wells, who's seen ideal growing conditions lead to back-to-back bumper crops in Michigan, forcing farmers to deal with stocked-full storage facilities and lower demand from processors.
"Day in, day out. They're still trucking away," Wells said about his orchard's apples, steadily leaving storage.
In 2023, the family-owned Ottawa County orchard picked more than 50,000 bushels, breaking the previous record of 47,000, set in 2022. "Second year in a row with big," Wells said.
The state saw success, too, producing a combined 64 million bushels in 2022 and 2023, by most estimations.
"It's a struggle to find space," said Wells, who's rented additional storage capacity from other nearby orchards.
This past year's crop shouldn't run out until August, he said, and other farms may sell into the next apple season.
Due to limited storage space, Wells left apples on the trees last fall, too.
"Growing up we always picked them clean," Wells said. "A necessary evil."
To keep fruit fresh, the orchard places apples in a controlled atmosphere, displacing oxygen with nitrogen and carbon dioxide, delaying browning.
"That essentially slows down the ripening process to the point of almost stopping," Wells said. "The idea is to be just as fresh as the day you put it in."
While trying to sell off last year's crop, an unseasonably warm winter may threaten this year's harvest, but Wells says his trees have not yet budded.
"I've yet to know what will come, so I don't have a concern until it's in my lap," Wells said. "Hoping and praying."
