By Kim Ward
If Michigan were the United States, MSU’s Mike de Schaaf knows exactly where California would be: the southwest corner of Michigan.
California is known for its extraordinary agricultural diversity. Michigan has its own version in the southwest corner of the state, where farmers grow an unusually wide range of fruits, vegetables and other specialty crops.
“We are like the little California of Michigan,” said de Schaaf, farm manager at MSU’s Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center, or SWMREC.
Across SWMREC’s 350 acres near Benton Harbor, researchers work with apples, peaches, plums, pears, grapes, blueberries, raspberries, chestnuts and an extensive assortment of vegetables. Apples, grapes and pickling cucumbers are among the center’s major crops.
What makes southwest Michigan capable of growing such a remarkable range of crops can be traced in large part about 10 miles west of SWMREC — to Lake Michigan.
The lake acts as a giant temperature buffer, de Schaaf said. “It keeps us a little bit cooler in the spring, so plants and trees don’t bud out early and get hit with spring frosts. And then it also extends our growing season longer into the fall.”
Source : msu.edu