MSU Extension welcomes new tree fruit specialist for southwest Michigan
Print
EmailDan Dick, M.Sc., started working with Michigan State University Extension in November 2025.
Michigan State University Extension welcomes Daniel (“Dan”) Dick as the new tree fruit Extension specialist serving southwest Michigan. He will be based at the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center in Benton Harbor, Michigan, where he will support the state’s tree fruit industries through grower engagement, applied research and outreach, and collaboration with commodity partners and industry stakeholders.
Dick grew up in a family deeply tied to Michigan agriculture. As co-owner of Fruit Haven Orchards in Lawrence, Michigan, he has spent the past decade immersed in the practical realities of fruit production, managing orchards, analyzing crop performance, selling at southwest Michigan area farmers markets, and shaping the farm into a data-informed business.
Dick earned his M.S. in horticulture at Michigan State University (MSU) where he worked with Josh VanderWeide, PhD, on flavor chemistry, plant growth regulators and fruit quality in blueberry. His graduate research centered on practical ways to shape flavor development with plant growth regulators. This work, rooted in both plant science and analytical chemistry, gives him a perspective that extends beyond any single fruit crop and into the shared biological mechanics that drive productivity, resilience and quality across perennial systems.
During his time at MSU, Dick used his training in analytics and technology in multiple grower-facing activities, including field days, research plot management, data visualization, statistical modeling and outreach material development. He has built custom digital dashboards for orchard inventory, fruit growth modeling and fruit-quality tracking; developed coding tools in R, Python and Arduino for on-farm decision support; and worked extensively with fruit flavor analysis, sensor-based monitoring and data-driven interpretation of physiological patterns.
As a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, Dick also brings a personal understanding of the cultural, historical and community dimensions of agriculture in Michigan. He looks forward to strengthening Extension relationships with tribal nations and supporting fruit production initiatives that integrate community knowledge, environmental stewardship and long-term sustainability.
In his new role, Dick aims to work directly with growers to identify pressing challenges, co-develop applied research projects and connect farms with the latest science on plant growth regulators, cold hardiness, soil and canopy nutrition, and emerging technologies. He plans to build programming that integrates field scouting, orchard mapping, data analytics and practical demonstrations, always with the goal of making scientific insights tangible and immediately useful.
His office is located at the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center in Benton Harbor. Dick welcomes growers to reach out, stop by, invite him to their orchards or discuss how Extension resources can support their fruit production needs. He can be contacted at dickdan1@msu.edu or 269-944-1477 ext. 205.
