![]() “It’s going to vary by region and field and the direction of their rows. She says many of Oregon’s growers are multigenerational farms, but they’ve never seen damage like this. “The leaves are burned, the berries are burned,” she says, “did the young plants and young growth that will be the berries next year get damaged? We’re still not sure.” Oregon Raspberry and Blackberry Commission marketing director Darcy Kochis is based in Portland. “Well, they’re shriveled up, there isn’t a lot of moisture left in them anymore,” he says. Henry Bierlink, executive director of the Washington Red Raspberry Commission, says some might not even make juice. As much as 90 percent of the crop could be damaged. Now those berries are mostly dehydrated, or roasted on the vine. Raspberry growers were just getting ready to pick when the damage came. ![]() Courtesy of Oregon Blackberry Raspberry Commission Growers say they won’t be sure of all the damage until next year’s crop comes on. But those frozen berries in plastic bags are mostly Northwest fruit.īlackberries and raspberries in Oregon sustained mass damage from the heat dome event of earlier this week. ![]() The fresh berries you buy at the store mainly come from California and Mexico. But juice just doesn’t pay growers as much. Much of this year’s Northwest raspberries and blackberries are doomed to juice. “Black Hole Sun”Īlso grappling with the heat dome damage are raspberry growers north near Lynden, Wash., and blackberry growers in western Oregon. Schreiber says growers won’t know how extensive the damage is until later this summer. We’ve never seen plants subjected to this.” “Here’s the thing, we’ve never had this happen before. “We think there is damage coming that hasn’t revealed itself,” says Alan Schreiber, who leads the Washington Blueberry Commission. Growers warn it could lead to nationwide shortages later this summer. It’s crushing news to an industry in the region that produces the large majority of the nation’s blueberries from July through September. The still-green berries now have brown seeds inside indicating they are sun-damaged too and might fall off the bush or stop growing. Most West Coast blueberry growers were just getting ready to harvest the most-common Duke variety. Growers are calling the heat damage widespread and catastrophic. Blueberries, raspberries and blackberries from Oregon to Washington to British Columbia are baked on the bush and vine.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |