Strawberry crop coming on strong in North Kentville

By Kirk Starratt

THE ADVERTISER

NovaNewsNow.com

Although a recent hailstorm damaged several strawberry fields across our province and the crop is slower to arrive in some areas due to unseasonably cool weather conditions, the berries are coming on strong in North Kentville.

Elianor Kennie, owner of Kennie’s Farm, said they started commercial picking on Saturday, June 23 and they planned to open their u-pick over the Canada Day weekend. She said on Tuesday, June 26 that commercial picking would be up to full force by the following week.

Increasing temperatures started the ripening process and Kennie said when they reached full volume that they’d likely have a crew of about 100 pickers. She said they’re hoping that the worker shortage wouldn’t be too severe.

They were harvesting the Evangeline variety, an early variety. Kennie said Evangeline berries are firm and the pickers like them because they stand out on the plant. “They’re bright red and they’re easy to see,” she said.

Evangeline berries are great for shipping because they have a longer shelf life. Kennie said they would have the Sable variety available in their u-pick. These berries are softer and juicier and have more flavour.

She said the pickers would be harvesting the Cabot variety the following week, a mid-season variety. These are huge, have great flavour and are good for freezing. They were already starting to ripen. “You can imagine, the pickers will just have a field day in here when they start picking those,” Kennie said.

Field supervisor Betty Weir said on Tuesday, June 26 that the pickers were averaging two flats or 24 quarts an hour. At $5.50 per flat, that’s an average wage of $11 per hour. Weir said that average would likely increase once the season hit its peak.

Rose Richards of New Minas, who was among the crew of about 35 pickers on Tuesday, June 26, said the berries were large and delicious. She said there was enough volume to quickly fill the boxes but it was still early in the season. “I would think toward the end of the week they would be more plentiful and the picking will be quicker,” she said.

Haley Levy, who is selling berries for Kennie’s roadside in New Minas, said on Tuesday that it was her third day and sales had been steady. “They just think they’re delicious,” she said.