The heat wave that is now affecting the Pacific Northwest has burned tons of berries, threatening this year’s berry harvest.
Considered catastrophic, the heat wave made the berries soft, but not ripe, with some burned under the intense sun.
The still-green berries now have brown seeds inside, indicating they are sun-damaged and might fall off the bush, or stop growing. That’s why farmers are now worrying that, this year, they will earn much less from selling produce, and that nationwide shortages may result.
Alan Schreiber, who leads the Washington Blueberry Commission, said, “We think there is damage coming that hasn’t revealed itself.”
He added that farmers wouldn’t know the extent to which the crops are damaged until later this summer.
Blueberries in both Washington and Oregon states are affected, with lots of them being burned.
A noteworthy point is that much of the Northwest’s raspberries and blackberries are reduced to juice, so farmers could opt to sell the juice. Unfortunately, under usual circumstances, juice doesn’t pay growers as much as produce does.
Some Americans living in Seattle or Oregon also said they were expecting to pick cherries, blackberries and raspberries in their backyards, but said the heat wave rendered the berries dehydrated, bone dry, and completely roasted.
Oregon blackberries were among the damaged crops in the U.S.
The berries’ appearances speak volumes.
Henry Bierlink, executive director of the Washington Red Raspberry Commission, said, “Well, they’re shriveled up, there isn’t a lot of moisture left in them anymore. The first number of picks are going to be affected for sure which is where the highest volume is.”
Farmers living on the U.S. west coast are taking no chances by protecting their crops from sun and heat damage in one way or another.
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