Recently, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, on an economic-development tour, picked cherries at a Sunnyside farm. Good idea. Washington grows more than half of the nation's sweet cherries, which have become a growth industry in the state like few others. Since 1960, Washington's production has shot up—to an astounding 165,000 tons last year from 6,400 tons.

Findings about cherries' health benefits also have exploded. Cherries are a source of antioxidants, promote healthy sleep rhythms, reduce jet lag and cancer risk, inhibit enzymes that cause inflammation, and don't raise blood sugar as much as most other popular fruits. They provide anthocyanin, which reduces insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes, and is believed to protect the heart and related vascular tissue.

While this year's harvest is nowhere near as big as last year's gargantuan 20.5 million 20-pound boxes, it's still expected to be close to 13 million boxes, which would be the fourth largest crop ever, says James Michael, the Washington state Fruit Commission's promotion director.

"Your quality is just fantastic," says Michael.

El Nino, he says, got the crop off to a good start, with January and February at their warmest levels in 20 years before an unusually wet, cold May delayed the harvest.

The first shipping date this year was June 8, nine days past the 10-year average, before 2009, of May 30, but a good volume of cherries reached the East Coast and other markets in time for July 4, which is "the No. 1 produce sales holiday" of the year, Michael says. The story about young George Washington, his ax, and that cherry tree help Independence Day sales, and during July, cherries are the top item in grocery stores in terms of sales per square foot of shelf space, Michael says. The harvest wraps up in August.

Last year, the huge crop overwhelmed the industry's infrastructure. Heavy bud growth led to an unusually large number of cherries on each tree, the market for small cherries evaporated, and 20 percent of the fruit went unpicked. For this year, growers pruned orchards aggressively, curbing bud growth.

Northwest Farm Credit Services' most recent Cherries Market Snapshot, dated June 30, says some growers have reported high yield losses and damage this year because the rain caused cherries to split or mildew. Still, on July 8, Ken Ballard, an account manager in Pasco with Northwest Farm Credit Services, said, "Prices right now are pretty good."

Washington cherries make up 80 percent of a regional crop marketed as Northwest Cherries, the value of which is estimated at $540 million, with exports accounting for 28 percent of sales.

In Green Bluff, the fruit-growing area north of Spokane, things are done differently. Most of the crop is sold to people who pick five or 10 pounds of cherries in the U-pick market or who come by the farms for an outing, says JoAnne Smatlan, who bought High Country Orchard 10 years ago with her husband, Joe, after they retired. The Smatlans grow Bing and Mount Rainier sweet cherries, but also Montmorency tart cherries, she says.

"We're very definitely a local market. More and more, we're selling directly from the farm," unlike such abundant cherry-growing areas as Yakima and Wenatchee, which ship out their cherries, she says. She says about a dozen of Green Bluff's 37 farmers grow cherries, and like other Washington growers, they had a lot of small cherries last year. "This year we don't have quite so much fruit, but it's bigger. It's wonderful."

We need our farmers, and not just to feed us. As the cherry growers have shown, they also provide examples of achievement in today's tenuous business world.