WOODLAND — Woodland’s Columbia Fruit has applied for a water right permit to improve the quality of the water fueling its raspberry growing operation west of the city by the Columbia River, a permit application shows.
The application says the swap from an unnamed slough tributary to the Lewis River for a water source would be accompanied by minor expansion in growing acreage and a shift to more efficient sprinklers.
Columbia Fruit, 2526 Dike Road, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Currently, the company grows raspberries on 72 acres, but it’s seeking to expand to 77, according to the permit application.
There are about 9,500 acres of raspberry fields in Washington. The state produced almost half of the roughly 140 million pounds of raspberries grown in the United States in 2023, USDA data shows.
The vast majority of Washington raspberry production is centered in Whatcom County, but Southwest Washington and Puget Sound also have a handful of operations. Almost all of the raspberries grown in the state’s western half are frozen immediately and marketed throughout the year, said Henry Bierlink, executive director of the Washington Red Raspberry Commission.
Production in the state has trended downward over the last decade, commission data shows.
Prices in the U.S. on the other hand have trended up slightly. USDA data shows that in 2014 the price for a pound of raspberries at market was $3.23. In 2023, the year with the most recent data, it was $4.47, slightly outpacing inflation.
Both production and prices vary significantly year to year.
Producers growing berries for puree and juice are struggling to be profitable in large part due to low-priced imports, Bierlink added.
