Michigan State University Extension and its Product Center program have recognized one of Leelanau County’s leading agricultural businesses with their “Best Barrier Buster Award.”  Given annually, that prize “recognizes a Product Center client that reduces or eliminates barriers to entrepreneurial success at the local, regional, or state level.” This year, the recipient is Northport’s Hallstedt Homestead Cherries, which MSU Extension praised for surviving and thriving through numerous sizable challenges.

The Product Center is a program of the MSU Extension that “helps Michigan entrepreneurs and businesses to develop and launch new product and service ideas into the food, ag, and bioenergy markets.” The program can assist clients with numerous services that are customized depending on specific needs, including business planning, market research, product development assistance, scientific support, and more.

According to a press release that announced this year’s Barrier Buster Award recipient, MSU Extension noted that HH Cherries has had a “long relationship” with the MSU Product Center.

Founded by husband-and-wife duo Phil and Sarah Hallstedt back in 2006, HH Cherries began with a business plan of growing and selling cherries on the wholesale market. A variety of barriers, “ranging from international trade disputes to seasonal labor shortages,” ultimately prompted the Hallstedts to pivot to an agritourism business model. The MSU Product Center provided assistance on that front, helping the Hallstedts navigate agritourism regulations and providing other research, planning, and business development services along the way.

“Most recently, MSU Extension staff has assisted the Hallstedts for more than two years in their pursuit of expanded agritourism activities on their farm, with a primary focus on positioning four ‘glampsites’ for farm stays on the property,” the press release noted. (The Leelanau Ticker broke the news about that innovative agritourism effort back in February 2021.) “If this additional venture does move forward, it will be a credit to the Hallstedts’ ability to adapt and create new strategies to sustain their farm. Nevertheless, these serial entrepreneurs will continue to leap over and break through barriers – it is just what they do!”

Photo Credit: Beryl Striewski