No rain to ruin strawberry crops this year, but growers facing picker shortage as fields ripen early in Canada

Last year at this time, strawberries were rotting in the fields at Harry Morse Farm outside Berwick as ongoing rain prevented the crop from being picked. A significant portion of the crop was lost when rain that started in June just didn’t stop, ruining what looked to be a great potential harvest. This year the rain hasn’t been an issue and there is another good-looking harvest, Janice Morse says. But there’s a new problem. The warm weather early in the spring means all the berries are ripening at about the same time, and there aren’t enough pickers. “We thought we’d be able to do a lot better than we were doing,” Morse said. “We do have some teenage girls and boys coming, and they’re coming every day, but we’re still looking for pickers.” She said most strawberry farms seem to be in the same boat, trying to get people into the fields. The warm weather means the crop was ready about two weeks earlier than normal. “The whole field is ripe right now and it’s not July 1 yet,” said ...