Washington Raspberry Crop Hit Hard By Heat

The raspberry harvest for Northwest producers is in the books, and it was a rough year for Washington growers thanks to not only extreme heat, but a long, intense drought. Washington Red Raspberry Commission president Henry Bierlink said growers on the westside of the state are not used to temperatures over 100 degrees.

"Some of the berries just needed to be picked and trashed because they were kind of dried on the cane. It was a problem. And then, sunburned berries and the best berries, you know, so that’s another damaging thing for us. So, both quality and quantity were impacted.”

The losses, Bierlink said losses this season were substantial.

“[The state’s crop was] 30% down, 30% down from last year. You know, and about, yeah, 40-some-percent down from a few years ago, so we took a real tumble.”

Bierlink says growers didn’t break $45 million this year, which is down notably from the $74 million reported in 2018.

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