Raspberry Outlook Pt 1

Raspberry Outlook Pt 1

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. Wetter and cooler weather in the Northwest this year has growers watching out for potential water-related crop issues.

Washington Red Raspberry Commission Executive Director, Henry Bierlink says berry growers are in the midst of harvest so some summer-like weather would be nice ...

BIERLINK ... "Well, that is true. It is raining here and that is not something that we really welcome right now, but it is what it is. So, we are faced with a little more sporadic rains than we have for many harvests. The last five years have been really, really very good in terms of harvest season. Very little rain."

Bierlink says growers would prefer to regulate their water usage ...

BIERLINK ... "All of our berries are irrigated so, for the most part, we get the water we need that way and we'd rather not have it from the sky during this time of the year, but we have and therefore we'll be fighting some mold pressure and those kinds of things that are always kind of lurking behind the weather events. But, otherwise, it's going reasonably well."

He says things could have been worse ...

BIERLINK ... "We had a pretty rough February after a pretty mild January which caused some damage in our crop and we felt that we might have some significant losses and we will have some production losses, but they won't be as dramatic as what we thought they were so that's good news."

Listen tomorrow for more on this year's red raspberry harvest and the role weather played in this year's crop.

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BL: Welcome back to another "Fruit Bites" brought to you by Valent U.S.A. With us again is Valent's Allison Walston. And this week Allison, tell me why can't I take fruit across the border?

AW: The main reason is to prevent potentially harmful pests from entering our country or transporting them to another country. With the increase of global travel and trade, pest introductions average 319 pests at US ports of entry each day.

BL: How many of those pest introductions are becoming established?

AW: Before 1960, one new species every year. In the past decade, about 9 new insects become established per year.

BL: What kinds of pests are we talking about?

AW: plants, viruses, diseases & insects. The brown marmorated stink bug, Spotted wing Drosophila, Asian Citrus psyllid...these insects' arrivals have been tough on the fruit industry.

BL: so it's best if I leave my fruit at home?

AW: or eat it before the border.

BL: Well, thanks Allison. Join us again next time for Fruit Bites, brought to you by Valent. Until then, I'm Bob Larson.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/airport-officials-find-a-farmers-market-worth-of-prohibited-produce-in-international-passengers-luggage

https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/49/8/619/254611

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/beneficial/wasps/Trissolcus_japonicus.htm

https://cisr.ucr.edu/non-native_invasive_species_california.html

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