Central Minnesota’s Strawberry Picking Season Begins as Farmers Face Heat, Drought Conditions

(KNSI) – It’s strawberry season in Central Minnesota, and several area farms are offering you-pick harvesting. However, recent high temperatures and dry conditions are putting some producers in a pinch.

“We’re watering nonstop,” says Randy Jones, owner/operator of Jonesey Berry Farm near Grove City. “We haven’t stopped watering for at least three weeks. I don’t know what day we started 24 hours a day. It’s a challenge to just keep the strawberries fed, watered.”

In a normal year, Jones says they would be watering every other day or every three days to keep up with the strawberry plants’ water needs during the fruit-bearing season.

David Yurczyk, owner of T Berries near Avon, says it’s a challenge to keep his strawberry plants healthy.

“I also just started a new patch, so I’m trying to keep them watered as well,” Yurczyk said. “Watering is a challenge, especially last week when it was so hot and dry.”

The heat also causes strawberries to stop growing and ripen faster. That shortens the harvest season.

“I’m guessing there’ll be a lot of smaller berries because of the lack of water,” said Yurczyk. “Of course, everybody wants the big, egg-size berries, and there’s some of those out there, but I think there’ll be less, and a lot more of the smaller ones this year.”

“We’ve seen a little bit of that already,” Jones said of the smaller fruit. “Wee’re four days into picking and the next bunch of berries that are starting to ripen are definitely smaller than the first ones we picked, which isn’t that unusual, but that’s usually more like two weeks into the season.”

Whether or not the weather will affect Jonesey Berry Farm’s raspberry harvest is yet to be seen. Jones says the first raspberry harvest will likely happen in early July.

“Right now, the raspberries are just starting to make fruit and have blossoms, so they don’t need the amount of water that the strawberries that are making fruit need,” Jones said. “But, I mean, in two weeks from now, that’ll be totally different. The raspberries will need that, and if this weather just continues into there, it’s going to create the same thing all over for raspberries, to some extent.”

Yurczyk was uncertain if T Berries would be able to offer you-pick strawberry harvesting this year. Now, he says there will likely be some you-pick opportunities, which will be advertised on the farm’s Facebook page.

Jones’ advice for you-pick berry opportunities this summer: be patient and call the farm ahead of time.

“Whether you want to come to our farm or another farm, don’t be afraid to reach out ahead of time,” Jones said, “because the last thing I want is for someone to make a drive to come here and then get here and we don’t have any berries for them to pick.”

Local U-Pick Berry Opportunities

Jonesy Berry Farm: Opened Friday, June 11th for you-pick strawberries. Raspberry harvest is expected to begin in early July. You-pick is available Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to noon. 51475 County Road 3, Grove City, MN 56243
T Berries: Check the farm’s Facebook page for updates on you-pick availability and hours. 38345 County Road 9, Avon, MN 56310
Svihel Vegetable Farm: Open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Staff anticipate you-pick strawberry harvesting will last another two or three weeks. 12004 Duelm Rd. NE, Foley, MN 56329
Strawberry Basket & Big Woods Nectar: Check the farm’s Facebook page for updates on what days strawberry picking is available. 12591 Aetna Ave. NE, Monticello, MN 55362
Strawberries Galore & More: Planning to reopen you-pick harvesting for strawberries on June 15th at 7 a.m. Updates are posted to the farm’s Facebook page. 34407 County Road 10, Albany, MN 56307