09/15/08 Fall Produce

Fall Produce. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. The growing season is slowly winding down in the northwest. Harvest of fall crops is underway and soon it will be time for end of season festivals and prep for next year. A lot of local producers are putting on a last minute display of some incredible fruit and produce like Jack Bellinger of Bellinger Farms who is still harvesting watermelon in the Hermiston, Oregon area. BELLINGER: They've slowed down quite a bit since Labor Day. We're doing anywhere from one to three semi's a day but that's a far cry from what we were doing. Bellinger says that they really are considered a boutique crop here in the northwest. BELLINGER: I mean even when you count all of us together I believe we're not a huge factor in providing watermelons for the simple fact that we just have a short growing season compared to the guys down south But even so Bellinger says pricing was good. BELLINGER: There was a shortage of fruit going into our season and then coupled with the high fuel cost it was an enviable year. We can't count on it every year but it was a good price year. One issue that did not bother the industry was labor. BELLINGER: You know I think what happened this year is the cherry crop got decimated so instead of them hiring a good chunk of people to pick the cherries and the things that really got way away from the late freeze it provided quite a bit of labor for us so this year it wasn't nearly as much of an issue that it has been in the past. Up next for Ballinger Farms&pumpkins. BELLINGER: We grow about 7 or 8 acres of pumpkins so we have a small store in Hermiston where most of our pumpkins are sold. It's kind of a fun part of the year. It's going to be gearing up here just next month we'll start our pumpkin patch rides. Bellinger Farms grows about 200 acres of row crops each year. In addition to watermelons and pumpkins they grow cantaloupes and tomatoes which turned into a good crop for them this year with the salmonella outbreak. Locally grown tomatoes were in high demand. BELLINGER: I think more people were interested in buying local given the problems that occurred earlier this year. Actually for the little amount that we grow, we did really well on them. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.