A Haines City blueberry grower doesn't want his crop to go to waste after it was damaged last month by hail.
So Bill Braswell is offering to give the fruit away to charities if they will simply come and pick it.
- Hail damaged berries on Bill Braswell's blueberry farm
- Fruit still looks and tastes great but is starting to fall
- Charities that come pick the fruit can have it for free
The hail hit his 20 acre farm on April 14. The hail slightly damaged enough of the crop that it couldn’t be harvested and sold to brokers.
“You spend 10 months growing it and it took 10 minutes to wipe it out,” said Braswell.
Braswell had crop insurance so he will be compensated for his loss.
Most of the fruit looks and tastes great but a lot of it is now starting to fall to the ground because there is no one to harvest it.
“It’s gonna taste fine," he said. "There’s nothing wrong with the fruit. It’s just not pretty and consumers want pretty fruit."
Braswell estimates close to 100,000 pounds of fruit is still on the bushes, but it may only be good to pick for another 10 days.
He said a small crew of people could pick a huge amount of fruit using a device that wouldn’t normally be used when the berries were going to be sent to a broker. The device allows people to shake bushes and then the berries fall into boxes.
“We had guys out here the other day," Braswell said. "They probably picked a thousand pounds in two hours."
Charities need to contact him through his email at wcbraswell@hotmail.com if they would like to come out to pick the blueberries free of charge.