A MDA International Market Development Grant, USDA Generic Market Access Program (MAP) funds, and Cherry Marketing Institute resources funded the promotion. Ruth Ralfs, CMI’s promotion coordinator in Germany, organized the program and Germany’s Confectionary Guild sponsored the event.

The promotion centered on a contest calling on German bakers to send in recipes and samples of baked cherry confectionary items. Contest rules included that each entry had to be a saleable item in their bakery shop, and the cherries had to come from the U.S. Bakers from all areas of Germany entered the contest. The Confectionary Guild in Hamburg selected the three winners; each received a trophy and a plaque.

The winning recipe was Kirsch-Zimt Tortchen, Cherry-Cinnamon Tort, from Siegfried Brenneis of Mudau, (southeast of Frankfort). The very tasty recipe featured a unique blend of Michigan-grown tart cherries, chocolate and cinnamon in cake-like dough.

1. Graceland Fruit Company, Frankfort, Benzie County -- A $21.6 million capital investment will be undertaken to expand Graceland’s fruit processing plant on Forrester Road in Frankfort. Graceland is the pioneer for America’s infused dried fruit industry. The APRZ approval of this processing plant expansion will increase the market opportunities for the Michigan cherry, blueberry, apple, carrot, peach and other specialty crop industries along with the sugar industry. The proposed expansion would create 45 new jobs by December 31, 2007, and a minimum of 75 new jobs by the close of 2017. Various potential business partners are being approached for value-added agriculture joint ventures, including Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.
2. New Era Canning Company, New Era, Oceana County --  A $5 million capital investment will be undertaken to expand New Era’s existing processing and canning plant in New Era, to process new products and introduce new packaging for its current business lines. The expansion will create at least 40 new full-time jobs. The company presently processes over 70 canned fruit and vegetable products from Michigan farms, making canned green beans, wax beans, pumpkin, asparagus, applesauce, sliced apples, carrots, and many types of dry edible beans. The APRZ designation will also facilitate the upgrade and expansion of New Era Canning Company’s wastewater treatment system as part of the new investment, in order to accommodate the business growth and to be in compliance with Michigan Department of Environmental Quality water and wastewater requirements.
3. SubTerra, LLC, Carp Lake Township, Ontonagon County -- A $22 million capital investment will be undertaken to reuse a portion of the abandoned White Pine copper mine in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, generating at least 200 new jobs over the 15-year Agricultural Processing Renaissance Zone period. Within the first three years, about one-half of the investment will go into an underground greenhouse project, with the remaining investment going towards a biopharmaceutical processing facility. This project will develop an accelerated agricultural plants growth chamber, which provides one of the nation’s most strict, state-of-the-art biological and industrial-security environments. This unique agricultural development will vastly Cexpand SubTerra’s current pilot plant into an advanced biotechnology plant research and commercial biopharmaceutical processing facility that provides contract growing services for high-value, genetically modified crops, and bio-processing and protein extraction services. This is a highly regulated facility, being permitted by both state and federal governments. With today’s technological advancements, the new medicines being developed at SubTerra to fight various forms of cancer, Alzheimer and Parkinson’s diseases, are complex therapeutic proteins. These proteins can be engineered into agricultural plants, thus making the plants become mini-manufacturers of these new medicines. SubTerra uses Michigan crops, such as field corn, potatoes, and safflower, along with other crops, such as tobacco, to produce proteins with transgenic plants as production vehicles for the proteins and medicines.
4. Sunrise Aquaculture, LLC, Hillman, Montmorency County -- A minimum of $6,250,000 capital investment for this "start-up" company will generate 30-31 employees in an Agricultural Processing Renaissance Zone that is also part of a Hillman Industrial Park in Northeast Michigan. This project is a Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) to raise and process yellow perch and other products. Both state and local governments support the designation of the Agricultural Processing Renaissance Zone in Hillman to facilitate needed economic and community development by Sunrise Aquaculture, LLC. Various business assistance services will be offered and provided to Sunrise by MDA, MSU, Michigan Farm Bureau, Michigan Economic Development Corporation and others, to aid in their successful business development and ensure they meet regulatory requirements.
5. Zeeland Farm Services (ZFS), Zeeland, Ottawa County -- A minimum of $4 million capital investment for this expansion of Zeeland Farm Services’ soybean processing facility will help create a Soybean Oil Refinery/Bleaching Plant that will generate 30 new jobs in this Agricultural Processing Renaissance Zone. This value-added agriculture expansion will also help retain 35 jobs at the current ZFS soybean processing facility. ZFS plans to produce further-refined soybean oil that allows them to pursue more value-added markets, such as salad oils, cooking oils, and a possible step towards production of biofuels or soy diesel fuel blends.

International Promotion Calendar