Orchard manager Henry Geerling (pictured) said more than 800 carloads of people had visited the farm in the past two weeks.
The farm’s income from its two-day, pick-your-own weekend yielded nearly 700kg of berries in one day.
"So far, the pick-your-own, since the start of the season which is only just three weeks, have picked nearly five tonnes. So they’re doing pretty good."
The harvesting season started on January 13 and,
despite the 370,000 plants on the farm, the picking season in Southland only lasted six to eight weeks.
But what it lacked in time, it made up for in bulk.
Southland’s mega-wet September worked in the berries’ favour.
"The wet has been good for it because it’s given us good swelling in the early fruit.
Finding enough seasonal workers had been a challenge.
"This year was a bit of a struggle, especially [hiring] experienced staff with supervising. But we’re OK now, so we just got there just in time."
- By Toni McDonald
