From patch to pie: The journey of a Quebec strawberry

Réjean Thivierge won't settle for just any pie.

Even though he left his old neighbourhood in downtown Quebec City years ago, he still drives in from the suburbs to get his fix, at the "Royaume de la Tarte" — the Pie Kingdom.

"I love coming here, it brings me back memories of when I lived here — and the pies are just delicious," Thivierge said.

One in particular makes the trip worthwhile: the strawberry pie, oozing with fresh red berries covered in sugar, a classic the "The Pie Kingdom" has been dishing out to loyal customers since 1959. 

Owner Marie-Pierre Simard insists on using only strawberries that are Quebec-grown, from the Beauce region.

But before those strawberries could end up on kitchen tables, several people have worked long hours to bring the Quebec berry to the dessert plate.

Planting

Quebecers ate about 34,318 tonnes of strawberries in 2017 — that's 3.7 kilos per person, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

For farmers like Richard Wera, in Waterville, Que., years of planning go into the production of a single berry.

This year's strawberry plants at the Wera Farm were put in the ground in May 2018.

Keeping track of crop rotations, on more than 25 acres of land for the strawberries alone, is a year-long task.

"It's quite a puzzle, sometimes I wonder how I do it — sometimes it turns against me," Wera said, laughing.

The family farm has been running on a U-pick model for four decades, and customers have been coming back year after year.

"They know it's local, they know where it's grown and they can talk with the grower," said Wera.

One family's story has stuck with him. A woman who was nine months pregnant went into labour as she was picking strawberries in the field.

"I remember how we panicked" before calling an ambulance, Wera recalled.

Decades later, the woman came back with her daughter, who at that point was a grown adult, as well as her grandson.

"So that's three generations who were able to experience that," said Wera.

Picking

Wera hired around 15 workers during peak season — mainly high school students from the Sherbrooke region looking for a few weeks of work in the summer.

Sixteen-year-old Brandon Bilodeau was back for a second year at the farm this year.

His job was to follow the pickers and puts flags behind them once a row is done.

"It's fun being under the sun, being able to walk around and not be stuck in a refrigerated area like a McDonald's."

Salaries account for 55 per cent of production costs for strawberry and raspberry producers in the province.

Finding workers is one of the main challenges for producers, according to Quebec Strawberry and Raspberry Growers' Association.

About 2,000 temporary workers are brought in every year, mainly from Mexico and Guatemala.

While most of Wera's employees are from Quebec, this year he hired two employees from India.

Perempreet Kaur arrived in Quebec in May for a one-year student program in Sherbrooke.

She decided to apply to work at Wera Farm, learning how to weed rhubarb for example, a plant she'd never seen before.

"It's totally new for me," said Kaur, who describes gardening as a hobby she enjoyed back home.

Organic

Quebec remains the Canadian province that exports the largest quantity of fresh strawberries: 48 per cent of the entire market.

Only a small percentage of those strawberry farms in Quebec — 49 out of 504 farms — are certified as organic.

Farmer Russell Pocock, whose farm was one of Quebec's first to be certified back in 1974, said that of those, very few are open for pickers.

That's left the Sanders Organic Farm with a beautiful problem.

"We can't supply the demand," said Pocock.

"We announce on our answering machine that we're open at 9 a.m. for pickers, and by 10 a.m. there are like 100 cars in the yard — and a third of them have driven all the way from Montreal," said Pocock, adding it can "get a little bit crazy."

His workers have to manage traffic on the small dirt road that leads to the farm in Compton, in the Eastern Townships.

Strawberries are among the fruit most likely to show signs of pesticides, according to the U.S. based Environmental Working Group (EWG), that puts the berry at the top of its "Dirty Dozen" list.

Growing the delicate fruit is also challenging for organic producers, who have to deal with insects like fruit flies, in addition to uncertain weather conditions.

People who are more sensitive to pesticides often have allergic reactions when they visit a conventional farm, said Pocock, which makes all the efforts he puts in to keep the farm organic worthwhile.

"For a lot of people, it's their only opportunity to come out to the country, be on a farm and show their kids what's growing in the fields."

Eating

For some, it's their first chance to "eat the strawberries right out of the field" without having to wash them first, Pocock said.

In his opinion, even after 45 years on the farm, there isn't a dessert that can beat eating a berry seconds after it's picked off the plant.

"That's my favourite."

That's also what convinces many customers to get down on their knees and get their hands dirty to pick berries themselves, instead of simply buying a basket at a roadside kiosk.

On one of the first picking days of the summer at the Wera Farm, 13-year-old Mackenzie McLaughlin ran out of containers to load all her berries.

McLaughlin, her sister Abby and their grandmother Noëlla Ouellet make their own pies, cakes and jams.

"We cook them with some sugar and then crush them up to make them mushy — it's like strawberry juice," said McLaughlin, before heading home to start cooking.