Q: What type of work wild berry picking is?
Berry picking is free enterprise here in Finland for all of the people, foreigners inclueded. It is tax free for all pickers. This might sound a little bit weird for foreigners, but it had been made so that people would collect more berries and mushrooms from forrests. It has been estimated that still more than 90% of Finnish wild berries rottens every year to forrests because nobody picks them.
Berry picking is not comparable for a clean office or a factory work. It is done on rought outdoor conditions. You will get sweat to your skin and you may get some muscle pain from it too. Sometimes it feels too cold to stay outside and sometimes it feels too hot to work. There are also some mosquitoes bothering you sometimes (not dangerous ones, but biting you anyway). That's why it is not so attractive for all people. For some people it works and for some it doesn't.
Picking wild berries and mushrooms is not done in a working relationship. Nobody's getting any monthly salary from this work. Picker sells his/her berries to the buyer and get paid this way.
A lack of motivation, a Finnish social security system and a modern lifestyle in western countries are the most important reasons why picking of berries is not so popular any more in here among Finns. If you're unemployed, you will get enought of money for your daily needs from social security to live normally in here, unless you are a small busuíness owner, an entrepreneur. That's how it is in Finland.
In many cases it is not that cost efficient to do it alone or in too small organizations, because good berry places are located many times far away from housings and buying points. Certain berries are groving only in certain types of forrest, not everywhere. If you don't know the places from your experience, you need to spend alot of time on serching picking places, not picking berries. To be successfull in picking you need to be hard working enought. You have to do picking work several of hours a day with a good intense and tempo to achieve enought of kilograms to make it profitable for you. You have to be mentally and physically ready for this.
Weather conditions are different from year to another and that has an big affects on berry crops on areas to another. Important succesful factor for you is to go to the right regions on a right time. There might have been a frost for example at the critical moment of growing which has destroyed the crop on large areas or there might have had some other issues in the nature that had diminished the crop.
Picking berries is too hard work for a person who is get to used to sit all day long. It is suitable for a persons who have guts enought to do physical work efficiently several hours a day. For them it may gives a multiple times the earnings what is possible for this person to earn in his/her home country.
Q: How are pickers typical working days when a goal is to make profit and savings from it?
Wake up at the time of sun rise and have a breakfast. After that travel with a picker car and find a good picking place. When a good place is found, stay in there and do picking of berries for several of hours. Carry berries to the car trailer from a forest. When it's afternoon or evening, travel back to the camp and sell berries and possibly mushrooms in there as well. Eat a dinner, take a shover and go to sleep. Sometimes also do laundry and other personal maintanance.
Q: How much of money can you earn by picking berries?
It depends on many factors all together:
1. How good is a berry crop on that area you're doing picking on that year.
On different years there will be different amount of berries in forrests. Variations are big between different years. The crop is fully dependent on weather conditions on that year.
2. What is the market price of berries on that year.
This is determined mostly on how good is the crop. If it's a bad crop all over the world for a certain berry and the stock level for is low, the price will be higher and vice verse. It is dependent on supplies and demands of berries.
3. How hard-working are you.
Typical picker is picking around 50kg of bilberries in a day and around 70kg of lingonberries a day. Best pickers are doing over 100kg a day.
4. How good picking equipments do you have.
Almost all people in Finland are still using traditional small picking rakes. There are also better rakes available for berry picking. You should use them.
5. How good berry places are you able find.
Your eye will develope to find better places more easily when you will get more and more experienced in this work. You possibly have to drive alot to see many different places. You have to be ready to walk a lot deep into the forest to reach a good picking place. You have learn to read nature and to understand what are the key issues on that year for good picking places. Dryeness, wetness, windness, direction to the sun, size of trees in a forest etc...
6. The time you are able to use for working
Living near enough to a good picking place is important for your good incomes. Then you don't have to spend too much of time on traveling. It is also an advantage for you, if you don't have to prepaire your own food. Readily made food will save your time for a rest or for a work.
Q: How traveling to picking places is organized with us?
Pickers forms groups of 5 or 9 persons. Each group decide by themselves when and where to go for picking. Group members share together gasoline and rent cost of a car. A driver doesn't participate on gasoline cost, if group members agrees together so.
Q: What if a car gets broken in a middle of a day?
A driver of that group will call to the mechanic to the camp and ask for help. If it's a serious problem in that car a spare car will be sent to this group.
Q: How can I sell my berries and mushrooms?
You can do it in a camp every evening time. We have berry boxes for you in a camp.
Q: When the season will be over?
We will continue project until it makes sense to do it. The quality of berries and prices determs it. Normally it is sometimes at the end of September.
Q: How much are living and all the other cost per day for me?
Car rent 6€ (when 5 persons in a car)
Gasoline per person 4-6€ normally depending on your driving
Accommodation rent 5-8€. Depending on your selection of room type.
Food estimate 5-10€, depending fully on yours.
Q: What are the prices of berries for pickers in here?
For 2017 no one knows yet. It will be determined by markets.
For example last year it was commonly paid for a picker:
1.00-1.20€/kg for bilberries with leaves
0,80€/kg for lingonberries with leaves
We are following common picker prices in Finland, so you don't need to worry about getting the right price from berries you are selling to us.
Q: Can I do cooking in a camp?
Yes. We will also have some food for sale in there for pickers. You just have to inform this day before you would like to get food from our cooker.
Q: Do you have a washing machine in your camp?
Yes, we have.