HELENA — One Helena agricultural research site turned berry orchard is cultivating passion and spreading awareness for Montana's berry growers.
In Montana, we’re all familiar with grains and beef. But there’s another sector of Montana’s agriculture industry that should be on people’s radar: berries.
(WATCH: Montana Ag Network: Berries are booming in the Treasure State)
“I feel like we're all in this together, and if we're gonna make it a big industry in Montana, then we need to be able to share and grow,” said Apple Bar Orchard Owner Catherine McNeil. McNeil and her late husband started the Apple Bar Orchard in Helena as a research site through MSU Extension in partnership with the Western Ag Research Center. The goal is to see which berries can grow in Montana’s colder climates.
When they identified what thrived, they continued to grow and harvest them. As the berries grew, so did the support network around them.
McNeil is a founding member of the Montana Berry Growers Association.
“It was a great opportunity for people kind of like-minded to get together and say ok, how can we benefit other berry growers in the state?” said McNeil.
It’s now harvest time for McNeil. She spends nearly every morning picking the berries by using a shaker to drop the berries into a kiddie pool for collection.
The berries are then cleaned and filtered out before being stored in an industrial freezer until they are made into jam or sold to consumers.
This orchard alone is home to around 1,000 plants on just 1 ½ acres. The most popular crops include haskap (or honeyberries), aronia, cherries, saskatoon, and currants.
For McNeil, this is more than just a hobby; it’s a passion. She continues to keep the farm running as a way to honor the memory of her husband.
“I think in his memory, I do a lot of things,” she noted.
Her dream includes turning a small house on the property into a store, and she also hopes to transform this shop into a commercial kitchen where she can sell her own goods.
“To see how far we've come with it, that it's… I don't know I can't just let it go. I can't just let it die. So we're going to power on,” said McNeil.
They hope to continue growing and harvesting here and make berries a crop Montana is known for.
