Raspberry harvest normal in odd year

Bellingham — While nearly everything else has been turned upside down during this pandemic, Whatcom County’s raspberry crop was fairly normal this year.

Whatcom farms tallied just under 63.7 million pounds of raspberries this summer, according to the latest data from the Washington Red Raspberry Commission. That’s down 3 percent compared to last year, but is within the bounds of a normal crop, said Henry Bierlink, the commission’s executive director.

Whatcom County had 99 percent of Washington’s overall harvest, according to the data. Of the 75 Washington raspberry farms, 68 were in Whatcom County.

The 2020 crop is down significantly compared to recent years; the peak year was in 2018, when 74.2 million pounds were harvested. Bierlink noted that some of the older acres were taken out of rotation and not replanted as farmers worked to maintain a sustainable business.

While this year’s harvest volume was relatively normal, the economics of berry farming remain out of whack. Domestic prices remain low as imports continue to flood the market. The rising labor and other production costs are overwhelming the prices farmers are able to get for the crop, Bierlink said.

With labor, Bierlink said farmers were able to barely find enough workers this summer given all the disruptions with the COVID-19 pandemic.