Fruit farmers having ‘berry’ good year

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This article was published 20/07/2023 (1150 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Fruit growers from across Westman, Manitoba and the Prairies have been busy this summer tending their crops and inviting customers to their farms to pick a bounty of the sweetness of summer.

May’s hot weather, with temperatures climbing as high as 30 C, has made for a slightly earlier season for picking berries in the past couple of years, said Angie Cormier, the executive director of the Prairie Fruit Growers Association and a strawberry farmer from near La Salle, Man., located 227 kilometres southeast of Brandon.

The tumultuous weather experienced so far this summer hasn’t come without it’s challenges to fruit farmers, however, Cormier said.

“Everybody across the province has had different weather experiences. Some have had excessive rain and hail, and the heat in May wasn’t ideal for the fruit coming out of the blossom,” she said.

Nonetheless, it has been a banner year for Haskap, Saskatoon and raspberry growers, all of whom have enjoyed a bountiful harvest, Cormier said. Some Haskap and strawberry farms began welcoming customers to pick fruit at the start of the month, and raspberries and sour cherries haven’t been far behind, she added.

Fruit farmers in Manitoba have different experiences than producers who grow grain crops, Cormier said, since the consumers come to the farm instead of buying products at the store, although some fruit farmers do sell to grocery stores and farmers’ markets as well.

“Grain farmers aren’t necessarily having customers come onto their farms,” she said.

The association works across the Prairies to connect growers to consumers. They hold a yearly conference and several workshops throughout the year to inform growers on different topics such as research, marketing, soil health, irrigation and more.

“It’s also for the growers to have the opportunity to network with people that are doing the same thing,” Cormier said.

Fruit farming — like all other avenues of farming — isn’t always easy, she added. But while grain farmers often have neighbours growing the same crop, fruit farmers can be fewer and farther between.

“It’s challenging growing fruit in Manitoba,” Cormier said. “We don’t have a fruit farmer that’s just down the road from us, like grain farmers. So it’s important to our organization that we create those opportunities for growers to get together to network so they can share their stories and learn from one another.”

Although the COVID-19 pandemic impacted every aspect of the agriculture industry, Cormier said that thankfully provincial and federal pandemic regulations still allowed for customers to come and pick their fruit over the past few years.

“The great thing about farming outside was people were able to come to our farms. We were able to spread people out,” Cormier said.

Unfortunately, 2020 and 2021 were difficult years for fruit growers across the province due to varying extremes of wet and dry conditions. Thankfully, last year was a phenomenal year for fruit farmers, especially those growing strawberries like Cormier, she said.

“There were a lot of people that came out to pick,” she said.

That momentum seems to have continued this year, with Cormier reporting higher levels of customers than ever before. She suspects other berry farmers in the province have had the same good fortune.

“We are always seeing more and more people coming that have never picked. I think the word is definitely getting out there. Even chatting with our growers that have Haskap or Saskatoons, they’re definitely seeing an increase in consumers coming to their farms and picking their berries,” Cormier said.

Visiting a local fruit orchard or berry farm is a great way to support the local economy and local farmers, which is a reason Cormier suspects many people show such interest in picking their own fruit these last few years — something she said fruit growers across the Prairies are grateful for.

“We are all very appreciative that we have communities that do support us,” she said. “It means a lot.”

Bringing children to pick their own fruit is also a hands-on way to teach them about the food chain and where their produce comes from, especially for children who aren’t from an agricultural community or don’t have family connections to a farm.

“It’s not even just kids. It’s adults, too, realizing where their food is coming from — that the strawberries or the Saskatoons don’t just appear. It requires a lot of work for the customers showing up at our gate to come in and pick,” Cormier said.

This hard work leads to a sense of satisfaction and appreciation, she added, and has led many customers to follow different farms on social media and share their experience with others.

The association’s website, pfga.com, hosts an interactive map that lists all the farms that are part of the association, information on how to contact them, their locations and hours of operation.

In the Westman area, Basswood Berries is a u-pick strawberry farm in Basswood, Man., located 64 km northwest of Brandon; MilsHof Saskatoon Berry Farm, which features u-pick Saskatoon berries, pre-picked Saskatoon berries and frozen fruit is located 71 kilometres southeast of Brandon near Stockton, Man.; and Grand Valley Strawberries, a u-pick strawberry farm located near Brandon.

The best time to pick berries is in the morning or in the evening when the berries are cooler, advises Philip Ronald, a Haskap and Saskatoon berry grower and the president of the association.

“Try to put your picked berries in a cooler for the ride home, then cool them in the refrigerator as soon as possible,” he said.

After that, berry pickers are encouraged to visit the association’s website to learn about new recipes.

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