WASHINGTON, D.C. (RFD News) — As America approaches its 250th birthday, George Washington’s connection to agriculture is worth remembering.
USDA cherry expert Ben Gutierrez says history shows the nation’s first president was a cherry farmer, experimenting with sweet cherries, tart cherries and everything in between.
Gutierrez says Washington also shared his agricultural knowledge with fellow Founding Fathers.
“Thomas Jefferson was just a little bit south of Washington. These founding fathers were sharing fruit and sharing what their successes were in agriculture. We actually know some of the records from George Washington says he got his cherries from George Mason. Kind of this partnership and this enthusiasm for trading things that were working kind of this willingness to collaborate among early Americans of such a beautiful time period and kind of how we’re starting to piece together our early American horticulture practices.”
A unique record of Washington’s efforts was discovered in 2024, when renovations at Mount Vernon unearthed two bottles of well-preserved tart cherries. USDA says the discovery could help encourage the popularity of tart cherries in the United States.
However, weather has been volatile for cherry growers this year.
Lance Honig with USDA says freeze events and other weather challenges affected production in the nation’s two largest cherry-producing states.
“The sweet cherries, Washington, the largest producing state. They had freeze events, they had other problems relating to whether it be moisture or temperature and things of that nature. Overall sweet cherry production we’re forecasting down nearly 17% from last year, just three hundred and eleven thousand tons. When we look at the tart cherries, unfortunately folks in Michigan had freeze issues this year as well. So now we’re looking at just ninety-one million pounds expected to be produced. That’s thirty-six percent less than was produced last season, and last season wasn’t a high point either.”
While freezes created challenges in Washington and Michigan, warm weather pushed California’s cherry harvest about two weeks ahead of last year.
