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By Alice McFarlane

Fruit Production

A tough year for fruit growers

Nov 4, 2019 | 4:58 PM

A cold winter and fewer heat units in the summer created challenges for more then just grain and oilseed producers.

For the domestic fruits and berries industry, it was a difficult year.

Fruits crop specialist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture Forrest Scharf said it started with a miserable winter.

“February was one of the coldest Februarys in over 100 years so that was challenging for things like the dwarf sour cherries and apples and even raspberries had tip kills. There was a little bit of an adjustment. They kind of recovered and did OK by the end of the year but that initial time period they were set back a bit,” Scharf said. “There’s a June bearing strawberry that typically in Saskatchewan are harvestable in early July and then there is the day-neutral that last well into September. But when you get a cold September they start to decline in their production and they really didn’t get the heat to carry forward and give good yields well into September this year so that impacted them as well.”

Scharf said production was a bit better in the Outlook area and in the southwest that got the heat units and produced an OK crop.

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“South of Prince Albert there was an area there that didn’t get as many rains later on and it was a little bit drier so they did OK,” Scharf said.

It also depended on the type of crop with Haskap and Saskatoon berries performing well. Scharf said native growing berries had a great year.

“Saskatoon berries had one of the best years I’ve ever seen or in the collective grower memory. Really large fruit. Even the native wild stands did very well. Part of that would relate to the climate because under cold conditions they can handle the cold for prolonged periods and that reduces disease incidents. It reduces the number of insects that are around so the pest pressure is much lower.”

There are more than 200 fruit operations in the province actively growing fruit and berries. While some operate U-pick operations, others grow the fruit to make jams and jellies or sell at your local farmers’ market.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF