Strawberry harvest in full swing

BY AMY L. SMITH

NovaNewsNow.com

Kings County residents are finally enjoying warm days, trips to the beach and the fresh produce for which the region is renowned.

For Kennie’s Farm in north Kentville, summer is strawberry season and although there were some early worries, this year’s harvest is off to a wonderful start.

When the harvest began in June it looked as though labourers might be short. This year’s crop is excellent in both quality and quantity, but a good product is nothing if it can’t make its way to shelves.

However, fears were calmed when pickers came out in increasing numbers to make some pocket money in the fragrant, straw-lined rows. Elinor Kennie says her best pickers can bring in three or four eight-box flats in an hour and her morning shift of pickers has been producing nearly 500 flats per day.

This level of production is extremely important to the farm because this year’s demand has kept their berries moving at quite a clip. Nova Scotians consume more strawberries per capita than any other province in Canada and this year they’re as hungry as ever. While less successful seasons have seen the Kennie’s truck, a fixture on Commercial St., New Minas, filled with excess strawberries while the farm cooler is full, this year it’s difficult to keep it stocked with berries going at $2.50 per box. Elianor says that this demand may be part of a shift in consumer attitudes toward berries.

U-pick not as viable anymore

The farm’s U-pick operations once demanded most of the farm’s acreage. Now, only 5-10 per cent of the land is used for personal picking.

Many reasons are offered for the low numbers of U-pickers. Wet weather earlier in the month could have kept many customers away and gas prices are keeping families from the city - one of Kennie’s’ most important target markets - at home.

While fuel costs and weather certainly have an effect, the widespread availability of cheap, good quality berries is also a factor in discouraging people to pick their own.

“The U-pick started in the ‘60s when you couldn’t buy fresh berries,” Elianor said. “Now they’re in the store by 10 o’clock the next morning.”

Less ripe, poor tasting berries ship better and keep longer on shelves and while no match for local produce straight from the field, the berries found in large retail stores are getting better, causing U-pick profits to decline.

Imported berries also have an effect on U-pick demand as year-round strawberries make the summer fruit less of a novelty. Elianor says that strawberries may be going the way of the cucumber, a once profitable U-pick item that is now solely in stores due to year-round availability.

Import berries and large retailers have also been in the news for driving down farmers’ prices. In 1988, Kennie’s berries cost consumers $2 a quart. Twenty years later consumers have seen only a 50-cent increase in price.

In that time the price of fuel, labour and farm equipment has risen substantially and today costs are rising even more dramatically. Farmers around the province are speaking out about the difficulties of recovering their costs, but the Kennies aren’t complaining.

“Margins are down, but our volume is up. Our product is moving, so we’re quite happy,” Elianor said.

This years yield has also been quite high due to better performing varieties that help farmers get more fruit from less fertilizer and land. While Elianor says certain aspects of the farm aren’t like “the good old days”, it’s shaping up to be a great season and the Kennie’s are looking to operate next year with even more acreage.