CHERRY PITS: Michigan’s tart cherry industry — the largest in the U.S. — may have a way to make money from, of all things, the pits, while making soil more productive and reducing toxic metals in contaminated water, a new study using Antrim County cherry pits shows. Converting waste pits to useful purposes — a charcoal-like, carbon-rich substance called biochar made by heating pits in a zero- or low-oxygen environment– could lower costs for processors and reduce the industry’s environmental impact. We hear from Cherry Marketing Institute, Cornell university researcher and the president of a company that processes cherries in Kewadin and Hart. Top producing counties include Oceana, Benzie, Leelanau, Grand Traverse, Allegan, Charlevoix and Antrim. By Eric Freedman. FOR OCEANA, BENZIE, LEELANAU, TRAVERSE CITY, CHEBOYGAN, PETOSKEY, MICHIGAN FARMER, CORP!, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, HOLLAND, HARBOR SPRINGS, LUDINGTON, MANISTEE AND ALL POINTS.