Raspberry Harvest 2017 Pt 2

Raspberry Harvest 2017 Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson.

Washington's red raspberry harvest is well underway under sunny skies so far this Summer. And while the weather makes it enjoyable for people to be outside, I asked Washington Red Raspberry Commission Executive Director, Henry Bierlink if it might be too much of a good thing ...

HENRY BIERLINK ... "Uh, that's probably true. I think really, in general, it's about as good as you can get, but I think it always stresses things out a little bit when they have to get water strictly from irrigation, and certainly if you don't have irrigation that's designed as adequately as it should be it shows. And, like I mentioned, coming out of the Winter and really wet Spring probably the main thing is our berries are susceptible to root-rot, many of them are, and when the roots sit in the water for too long they're not as strong. And then you accentuate that with a really dry spell and you look around and you can see it. And certainly, the berries are showing it."

With this year's crop expected to be a little below normal, I asked Bierlink if they're getting any kind of feel for the market yet ...

HENRY BIERLINK ... "Well, that's always a good question. I think prices are still kind of fluctuating, not truly set yet. And clearly, we are not the only supplier in the world. There are places in the world that are also strong in raspberries, Chile and Eastern Europe and so just because we have a lower crop doesn't mean that our price will go up. We'd like it that way, but that's not necessarily the way it turns out. So, pricing is really still pretty fluid."

Bierlink says last year's record crop is a hard act to follow. He says harvest should run into late August or early September.

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