FRUIT HARVESTING

When picking fruit, you will be required to pick a targeted number of trays of berries per hour. A bonus is also set allowing workers the opportunity to earn extra. The target and bonus will depend on the quality of the crop, the weather and time of the season. 

Crops can be delayed by weather conditions which may result in reduced working hours. This generally only happens for a short period of time and most workers can gain this time back as the season advances or choose to take holiday payment.

Picking Strawberries

Strawberry picking is hard work. You will be required to pick a targeted number of trays of berries per hour. A bonus is also set allowing you the opportunity to earn extra. The target and bonus will depend on the quality of the crop, the weather and time of the season. 

The best quality strawberries are picked into small plastic containers called punnets. These are termed First Class strawberries, and are sold to the major supermarkets. First Class strawberries are a good shape with a nice, even, red colouring.

The lower quality and misshapen strawberries are picked into small plastic trays. These are called Second Class strawberries, and are sold for jam, preserve and purée making.

Diseased and pest-damaged strawberries cannot be sold, but must still be picked in order to ‘clean’ the plants properly. These are termed waste strawberries, and must be discarded into the furrows between the strawberry beds. Cleaning the plants prepares them for the next pick of berries to mature and ripen, and is essential in order to keep the plants healthy.

If all of the ripe First Class, Second Class and waste strawberries are picked, and plants cleaned properly, the next pick of berries will have less Second Class and waste, thus enabling you to make more money by picking more First Class strawberries. 

Picking Blueberries 

Blueberries are fruits grown in pots. Blueberry bushes are between 1-2 metres high. Each plant produces fruit that is not always easily accessible to pick.

You will be picking blueberries at a height of approximately 30cm – 2 metres and placing them in small trays attached to you. You will be picking the fruit from the outside to the inside of the plant by gently removing the blueberries and putting them in a tray. As blueberries can be easy to miss, to make sure the fruit is picked, two people pick each row, one each side.