This year is a good one for sweet, juicy strawberries, farmers say, and they are taking steps to make sure customers and workers stay healthy while picking them.

Keegan Czesak, founder of Eno River Farm, was just launching his four-acre strawberry field on St. Mary’s Road, north of Hillsborough, when COVID-19 hit North Carolina in March.

The silver lining was that his farm had not yet established a way of doing things, the 23-year-old Wilmington native said.

Eno River Farm grew from Czesak’s Virginia Tech senior class project. His uncle in Hillsborough, after learning about the business plan, helped him buy the land, Czesak said, and he hired some local young people to help with the work.

Like many other Triangle pick-your-own farms, Eno River is asking customers to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer before picking berries, use brand-new buckets to collect the berries, and wait for a turn to limit the number of people in the rows and leave 6 to 10 feet between them. Masks are encouraged, but not required, although many farm workers will be wearing them.

Many farm workers are also wearing disposable gloves, and at Eno River Farm, customers can wear gloves, Czesak said. They’re encouraging debit or credit card payments to further limit contact, although they will take cash, he said.

Other options being offered around the Triangle include call-ahead and online ordering, home delivery and curbside pickup.

“We’re off to a fantastic start,” Czesak said. “The crop looks gorgeous.”

Farms essential, changing

Strawberry season runs mid-April through the first week of June in North Carolina’s Piedmont counties. The season runs a little longer — through the first week of July — in western counties. To the east, it will be winding up soon.

North Carolina reported $21.2 million in income from 1,100 acres of strawberries in 2018, making it the third-largest strawberry producer in the nation, The News & Observer has reported.

Farmer’s markets and farms have remained open during the coronavirus outbreak, because they sell food — an “essential businesses.”

But many strawberry farms had to scale back their plans this year, said Christina Harvey, with the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. That included canceling Easter egg hunts and other annual events that bring in customers, she said.

Buckwheat Farm in Apex definitely noticed the lack of school groups picking strawberries and having picnics during the week, said owner Karma Lee. The three-acre farm has been in production for 22 years, she said, and is adapting to the changing times.

Like a lot of other farms, that includes using social media to get the word out about what’s happening on the farm. Buckwheat Farm also launched an online store Monday where customers can order pre-picked strawberries and pay with their credit card.

You-pick sales could start by the weekend, Lee said. She will be encouraging customers to wash their hands and avoid nibbling until they get home so they don’t touch their faces. If you don’t feel well, she said, please stay home to protect everyone.

“A lot of farms are doing a lot of new things, so we don’t know how well it’s going to work out, so if people will just be patient with us, it may take a little bit longer during checkout, but we’re trying, and I think we’re all going to be doing the best we can,” she said.

COVID-19 also has dampened the social atmosphere of strawberry season by limiting groups to 10 people or less and making it hard for customers and farmers to visit with each other.

Lunsford Farms owner Helen Lunsford said customers will be in the store one at a time and will have to leave once they have their berries. She also urged parents to leave their children at home if possible; her grandchildren aren’t visiting the farm either, she said.

“They’re used to hanging out with me at the strawberry patch, but they’re not going to be able to do that this year,” Lunsford said. “It’s a big adjustment.”

Farm labor delays

Lunsford and her husband, Ronnie Lunsford, have grown strawberries on their 2.5-acre farm in southern Caswell County since the early 1990s. On Tuesday, they kicked off the 2020 season.

The changes take some getting used to, Lunsford said, but the bigger challenge has been finding farm workers. Older folks who usually help them are staying away because of COVID-19, and the migrant workers haven’t arrived yet, she said.

“I know some people are picking (strawberries) and selling them pre-picked, and not letting anybody in the field, but I don’t think we can handle them that way,” she said. “We’re going to do the best we can do and hope we get them picked.”

The U.S. border closing to limit the spread of coronavirus is the primary reason for farm labor issues, Harvey said. Tighter border rules enacted over the last 20 years, combined with more immigration enforcement, also has slowed the flow of migrant workers.

“It was a very stressful time for the farmers, to not know if you’re actually going to have your labor to come and pick,” Harvey said. “That’s your whole crop. If you don’t have people to pick, it would be gone.”

Higher cost of farming

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been working with the State Department to get migrant workers quickly approved for H2-A visas required to do seasonal or temporary work.

Lee Wicker, deputy director of the N.C. Growers Association, told The News & Observer that about 25% of the state’s 80,000 farm workers have H-2A visas. National requests for workers with H-2A visas grew from 66,000 in 2012 to 243,000 in 2019.

But that option can be expensive and complex.

North Carolina’s minimum wage for migrant workers with H-2A visas is $12.67 an hour, but farmers also provide transportation, housing, food and worker’s compensation coverage, easily surpassing $10,000 per worker, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The cost of keeping farm workers and customers safe also is raising the cost of strawberry season this year, said Mark Waller, with Waller Family Farm in Durham. He noted the additional cost to rent or build handwashing stations, add portable bathrooms and sneeze guards, and more money invested in clean, new baskets. Customers cannot return baskets or bring their own containers this year.

Another farm planning to build a driveway for curbside pickup, he said, ran into N.C. Department of Transportation rules.

“I don’t want to jump on the pity party,” Waller said, but farmers have to account for the money they’ve already paid to their suppliers, from the person selling strawberry plants to the fuel, sheet plastic and parts companies.

His hope is for hot weather, sunshine and customers in the field, he said.

“We’ve got to pay all the (bills) coming in before we even start making a profit, which is on down the line,” Waller said. “But, you know what, God is good. It’s all good.”

Where to find strawberries

▪ N.C. Strawberry Association: You-pick farms statewide, ncstrawberry.com/farm-locator.

▪ Triangle on the Cheap: You-pick farms around the Triangle, triangleonthecheap.com/triangle-pick-your-own-farms

▪ Buckwheat Farm: Offering you-pick, online store, curbside and farm pickup. 2700 Holland Road, Apex. More information at 919-303-0339. Place orders at 919-244-6947. buckwheatfarm.com

▪ Eno River Farm: Offering you-pick, farm pickup and some delivery. 2127 St. Mary’s Road, Hillsborough; 910-622-3226. www.enoriverfarm.com

▪ Lunsford Farms: Offering you-pick, curbside and farm pickup. 1378 Ridgeville Road, Prospect Hill; 336-562-5437; tinyurl.com/wz8sn4d

▪ Waller Family Farm: Offering you-pick and farm pickup. 5030 Kerley Road, Durham; 919-225-4305; wallerfamilyfarm.com

Staff writer Ned Barnett contributed to this story.

This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 5:45 AM.