EAST LANSING, Mich. – Some Michigan fruit crops suffered damage after freezing temperatures hit the region earlier this month, according to Michigan State University extension.

Growers in eastern Michigan will see losses in tree fruits, MSU’s Robert Tritten said May 12. Some flower buds were already damaged from cold temperatures April 22. The cold weather had pushed the growing season 7-14 days behind, he said.

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – Your package of Land O’ Lakes butter may look different. Since 1928 a Native American woman known has Mia has graced the company’s products.  However, she is now being replaced. 

The brilliant setting of lakes and woods she posed in on her knees while holding a package of Land O’Lakes butter, though, lives on. In the outdoor setting now will appear Land O’ Lakes member farmers to showcase what the company described as ‘’its greatest strength.”

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — After an extensive national search, Mitch Frazier has been named the new president and CEO of AgriNovus. Frazier will begin his new role on June 29 for the agbiosciences initiative of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP). Frazier was CEO of regional John Deere retailer Reynolds Farm Equipment.

Frazier succeeds Beth Bechdol, who was appointed in December as deputy director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for the United Nations in Rome, Italy.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – According to a newly-released national survey conducted by the National Restaurant Assoc., the entire restaurant industry has lost two-thirds of its workforce, more than eight million employees, as a result of COVID-19 closures.

“The restaurant industry has been the hardest hit by the coronavirus mandates – suffering more sales and job losses than any other industry in the country,” wrote Sean Kennedy, the association’s executive vice president of public affairs, in an April 20 bipartisan letter to congressional leaders

LANSING, Mich. – Multiple lawsuits have been filed in Michigan over the past 30 days regarding Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive orders shutting down most businesses in the state of Michigan, including greenhouses, nurseries, landscapers and garden centers.

The first lawsuit filed against the shutdown orders came on April 17, when plaintiffs from the nursery, landscaping and garden centers business segments sued the governor over her shutdown orders. However, some 10 days later, those lawsuits were put on hold after Whitmer revised and extended her “Stay-home, Stay-safe” order, which allowed Michigan’s greenhouses, nurseries and landscape businesses to reopen while following outlined safety guidelines.