Lithuanian forests are seeing a plentiful chanterelle mushroom harvest this year, thanks to favourable weather conditions, but the wild berry season has largely failed due to spring frosts, according to mushroom and berry processors.
Processors say the warm and early spring followed by colder weather did not affect chanterelle growth, but the cool, dry conditions delayed the season by about a month.
The forests are full of chanterelles this year. The weather has been warm and damp, which is ideal for them, said Virginijus Varanavičius, head of the Lithuanian Forest Mushroom and Berry Business Association and CEO of Vipreka, a processing company based in Varėna.
Chanterelle prices remain similar to last year, with pickers earning €3–€4 per kilogram in the second week of the harvest, Varanavičius told BNS.
Dainius Balkevičius, director of the Švenčionys-based company Grybora, said pickers are bringing in an average of 10 kilograms per person to purchasing points.
“We’ve had enough moisture and warmth this year,” he said.
However, both Varanavičius and Balkevičius warned that wild berries are nearly nonexistent this season.
“There are no berries – no blueberries at all. There’s nothing to buy; they froze,” said Balkevičius. “There won’t be any lingonberries either – I checked in the forest.”
Varanavičius added that lingonberries have just finished blooming, so it’s too early to fully assess the yield. Still, he said most of the potential harvest is likely to remain unpicked.
“There’s simply no one to gather them. When there’s an average blueberry crop, it goes unharvested. It’s the same with mushrooms – people only show up when porcini start growing. No one wants to pick chanterelles; it takes too much bending down,” he said.
According to Varanavičius, this year’s meagre blueberry crop will be enough only for those picking for personal consumption.
Balkevičius noted that regular commercial pickers are shifting strategies: “The full-time foragers are selling directly to city dwellers, who pay more than the wholesale buyers.”
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