LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Apple Committee (MAC) has announced a 90 percent crop loss for the state’s apple growers this year.

Diane Smith, interim executive director of the state-approved marketing organization, made the announcement June 28. Last week, she said she makes the estimates by speaking with growers and processors in the state. They take a poll; in addition, the state’s frozen food packers make an estimate of various crop yields each year.

Harvest of apples doesn’t begin until August, but Smith said growers “know what they have” at this point. “That’s where we are at the moment,” Smith said. “We will have some apples this year, just not a lot.”

The silver lining to all this is the trees will have a year to recuperate and, “barring any weather issues, these trees will be well rested; the potential is there for a great crop next year.” It was only a couple years ago that there were so many apples harvested that growers and packers weren’t sure where to store them.

With apples and most other fruit crops a bust this year, attention has turned to just getting by, in hopes of better things to come. Last May, Gov. Rick Snyder asked for federal disaster assistance after it became clear that the early warming, followed by many frost events in April, were killing off the year’s crops.

Snyder’s action allowed growers to start the process of applying for assistance through the USDA’s Farm Service Agency. Smith said in order to get that kind of help the grower usually has to have some kind of crop insurance.

But she said federal assistance can take months, even years, to come to fruition. In order to make things happen faster, on June 26 Snyder signed a bill authorizing loan money for growers, who will then be able to secure low-interest loans from a bank or credit union.

“Today’s bill signing showcases the strong partnership between our growers and processors, private lenders and the state of Michigan, to provide a much-needed economic lifeline to support our specialty crop industry through this unprecedented loss from extreme weather conditions,” said Keith Creagh, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD).

“This new program is a hand up, not a handout. These privately administered loans will provide an investment to maintain the critical infrastructure that supports our unique fruit growing areas of the state.”

As of June 26 the state legislature had yet to appropriate the $15 million that will enable the loans. The program doesn’t guarantee the loans, but will allow lenders to charge less interest. The announcement described this year’s losses in the fruit industry as historic.

Smith said growers who apply for such a loan have to have some kind of crop insurance, even if it’s only at the catastrophic level, and they have to qualify for the loans.