Raspberries 2021 Pt 1
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. This year’s raspberry harvest is in the books, and it was a rough year for Washington growers given the drought and the time of the extreme heat in late June.
Washington Red Raspberry Commission president Henry Bierlink says we’re not used to 100-plus degrees …
BIERLINK … “I think people were dazed. I mean, we’ve never dealt with that kind of a thing before. So, it’s just like, okay what do we do with this.”
The heat, Bierlink says was just too much …
BIERLINK … “Some of the berries just needed to be picked and trashed because they were kind of dried on the cane. It was a problem. And then, sunburned berries and the best berries, you know, so that’s another damaging thing for us. So, both quality and quantity were impacted.”
The losses, Bierlink says were huge …
BIERLINK … “30% down, 30% down from last year. You know, and about, yeah, 40-some % down from a few years ago, so we took a real tumble.”
Especially, Bierlink says when compared to 2018 at 74-million …
BIERLINK … “Well, 2016 was just a little better than that. But, yeah, we were in that 75-million range those years. We didn’t break 45 this year.”
Moving forward, Bierlink says, it depends …
BIERLINK … “You know, it kind of goes from one to the other, you know, optimistic some days, less optimistic on others.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on the 2021 raspberry crop … and the unprecedented weather year growers had to deal with.
