After growing up on a Michigan dairy farm, Richard Lehnert began writing about farming in 1962, while still a junior studying journalism at Michigan State University. He worked at newspapers for a year before joining the staff of Michigan Farmer, where he spent 26 years, the last 15 as chief editor. He won several national awards for writing and photography.
After 1991, he worked as a freelance writer for national farm magazines, a newsletter editor, a livestock information officer at Michigan State University, and as a specialized writer about fruit and vegetable production.
He joined the staff of Good Fruit Grower in 2010. Based in Michigan, he primarily provided articles about fruit production from the eastern side of North America.
Read his stories: Story Index
Most Recent Articles
Precision decisions
From the Good Fruit Grower archives: Thinning apples with more confidence.
State finalizes rules to kill maggots before shipping compost
Washington state regulators have finalized special permit requirements for composters seeking to transport feed stocks
The growing threat of black stem borer
Years after invading from Asia, the insect is emerging as an apple tree pest.
Protect vines from the cold
Burying a spare cane provides insurance against very hard winters.
Root pruning is making a comeback
Old practice finds new application by solving modern problems in apples.
More profits from Concords
Experimental design doubled Concord grape yields last year.
Tough times on the concord belt
Growers facing difficulties with both juice and wine grapes.
Looking for good sports
Michigan State researcher thinks mutations will help identify genes governing apple quality traits.
Before you push trees
Older orchards can be repurposed to new uses or topworked to new varieties.
Crucial tips to store Honeycrisp
Treated properly, stored Honeycrisp can maintain quality nine months and longer.
Ups and downs of global production
Canada has the shortest apple crop in 20 years, while Mexico expects to almost tie the record.
Designer rootstocks
In a rootstock trial, the differences in size, shape, and bearing capacity of a
Mike Wade is new chair of U.S. Apple Association
The U.S. Apple Association added several new members to its directorship in August. The chairmanship
Growers transition to fresh market apples
Growers are moving from processing to fresh apple varieties, but it takes time.
U.S. apple growers expect smaller crop
USApple estimate at 234 million; down about 41 million from 2014
First day observations from the U.S. Apple outlook conference
Richard Lehnert, Good Fruit Grower associate editor, is attending the U.S. Apple Association crop outlook