Utah’s growing population could threaten its massive cherry production

Santaquin • Harvesting Utah’s tart cherry crop — the second largest in the country — is part physics, part mechanical ingenuity and a lot of wow.It happens like this: Two large pieces of farm equipment sidle up on either side of a tree laden with cherries.The driver of the first vehicle — a hydraulic shaker — pushes a button and rattles the tree trunk loosening about 130 pounds of cherries from the branches and creating a mini-red rainstorm.The catch frame on t