Bumper berry crop this year in the north

With an early spring and warm weather, berries on the Bayfield Peninsula orchards are seeing a bumper crop.

Bayfield Apple Company Owner Bruce Hoekstra says he owns Wisconsin’s largest raspberry crop. And he’s growing nearly twice the amount of raspberries this year compared to last year. He says everything is earlier than it has been for the past six years, crediting seven inches of rain that fell in June.

“We’re done picking cherries already,” says Hoekstra. “We’re going to have a pretty abundant raspberry season. We’ll probably pick somewhere between 15,000 to 20,000 pounds of raspberries.”

Meanwhile, Blue Vista Farm Owner Eric Carlson expects his blueberry crop to triple from last year.

While a plentiful berry season is good for business, orchard workers on the Peninsula say the taste is the best part.

Most of the orchards in Bayfield are open to picking. Hoekstra and Carlson expect the apple season this year to be the same, if not better than last year.

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