U-pick berry farms cope with COVID-19 crisis

COVID-19 has shut down many summer staple activities, but picking berries at one of the Fraser Valley's many u-pick farms isn't one of them.

In fact, given the wide open spaces of a berry field, picking your own berries might be considered a perfect pandemic pastime.

At least that's the wayRhonda Driedeger, owner of Driedeger Farms in Langley,sees it.

"As soon as we opened, people were like, 'Thank goodness. This is one normal thing I can do that means my life is not out of control,'" she laughed.

"It's something that people normally do in the summer and now it's a bigger deal because they've been cooped up."

Dreideger says traffic for strawberry pickinghas been steady, even though the rain and cold haveshrunk the crop size.Raspberry and blueberryseason is just starting up.

At Richmond'sBirak Berry Farm, owner Gurpal Birak says business has been good, but the weather could be better.

"There's been loads of people coming with their kids," he said. "If it's raining then people don't come outside, but if the weather is good lots of people are coming."

Agriculture is considered an essential service, but like all businesses, u-pick operations have had to bring in COVID-19 safety protocols to ensure physical distancing and hygiene.

No snacking in the fields

For example, customers are no longer allowed to sample as they pick toavoid therisk of transferring the novelcoronavirus from a person's mouth to their handto a plant that someone else might pick from later.

Maan Farms in Abbotsford has taken an extra safety measureby introducing a reservation system meant to prevent large crowds of people arriving to pick at the same time.

"People have to book their book their ticket online and then they come in and we designate an area of the field," said operations manager GurleneMaan."So customers feel safe and we also feel safe knowing where they are and that they're not wandering around."

Another change from previous years is that pickers can't bringtheir own buckets, similar to how grocery stores have banned shoppers from bringing their own bags.

"It's been difficult to communicate this," said Maan. "As farmers, we are not allowed to accept outside containers as regulated by the Minister of Agriculture. So that's been a challenge."

Maan Farms is now pre-selling $2containers thatholdabout four kilogramsof fruit aspart of their online reservation system. They also accept pre-payment for a full container, to reduce touch points even more.

"You fill up your bucket and head home," said Maan. "That way we don't have to touch your bucket again and you don't have to put it on the scale."

Driedeger says regardless of the crisis COVID-19, bad weather, worker shortage farmers are used to handling whatever comes their way.

"Everyone keeps saying it's unprecedented and we've had to pivot," she said. "But infield farming there's always something, right?So let's throw in a pandemic. We'll deal with that on Friday."