Last winter was bad for Whatcom County raspberry farmers. A look at what’s ahead
It turns out the February freeze did significant damage to Whatcom raspberries, resulting in the lowest harvest in four years.
Whatcom berry farmers harvested 65.6 million pounds of berries this past summer, according to estimates from the Washington Red Raspberry Commission. That’s down 11.6% from the record volume year of 2018 and the lowest total since 2015, according to the data. Whatcom County produced 99% of the Washington state raspberries this year, according to the report.
A warm January started to “wake up” the raspberry plants from the winter dormant stage and the freezing weather through much of February damaged many of those plants, said Henry Bierlink, executive director of the commission. He added that all the fields were impacted, but the ones in the eastern part of the farmland were hit hardest by the punishing winds from the north.
Whatcom farmer Jon Maberry agreed, adding that a five-mile swath from the border going south along Hannegan Road was probably the hardest-hit area.
“Hopefully this (winter) will be better in terms of weather,” Maberry said, adding that cold weather is usually fine for the plants during the dormant stage. “We don’t want another pretend spring in January.”
Agriculture in Whatcom County is a big economic driver. The market value of agriculture products sold in Whatcom County was $372.9 million in 2017, a 4% increase compared to 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest census report from 2017.
Low prices challenge farmers
With the berries they were able to successfully harvest, Whatcom farmers were not getting a high enough price to pay expenses.
While the highest-quality berries, the ones that are individually quick frozen can fetch a decent price, the berries that are turned into juice are being purchased for very low prices. That’s because the domestic market is flooded with juice raspberry product from other countries, including Mexico, Maberry said.
Maberry, who is a board member on the commission, said they’ve been working with legislators to at least investigate possible violations of how many imported raspberries are entering the market, but not much progress has been made. Maberry was told one possible reason for the lack of movement is the government is focused on getting the new trade agreement with Mexico and Canada finalized first.
“We’re a little frustrated that there is not a lot of appetite for this yet,” Maberry said.
With the domestic market flooded with imported raspberries, Maberry said there is concern Whatcom berry farmers will look at alternative crops. The choices are slim, however: some are switching over to blueberries, but that market also has its challenges when it comes to pricing. They could switch over to low-value crops like hay, but that also wouldn’t help the bottom line.
Bierlink said they haven’t seen a big drop in Whatcom acreage devoted to raspberries yet, but it is a concern.
“The farmers are tired” of growing berries at little or no profit margin, Bierlink said.
What local residents can do
Maberry said one bright spot was the rollout of Whatcom Red, a raspberry juice smoothie produced by Grace Harbor Farms. The smoothie landed in local stores this summer and the sale results were good, he said. That also goes for the other local products like frozen raspberries.
“We just appreciate it when people look at the label for local frozen raspberries,” Maberry said. “That’s the kind of support we hope will go nationwide one day.”
This story was originally published October 16, 2019 at 12:43 PM.
