Heat Dome Havoc

When Kara and Greg Unger took over the family berry business, they knew they were in the middle of a historic worldwide pandemic. The couple had their eyes open, minds set, ready to take on what Covid 19 might throw their way. What no one expected was an unheard of heat dome to come to the Pacific Northwest, and decimate their crop.

Unger Farms has been in business since 1984. Matt and Kathy Unger started the farm in 1984 and were a staple of the Oregon farming community for over thirty years, before passing the reins to their son and daughter-in-law in December 2020. Greg and Kara are the fourth generation of Ungers to be farming this land, and in many ways, Greg always knew that berries were in his future. “He has always wanted to farm, to keep the legacy going. Same exact business plan and model: berries, [bringing] customers the same products, so that Unger Farms doesn’t go away.”

The Unger name is synonymous with strawberries in the Pacific Northwest. While the family grows blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries as well, Kara and Greg understand that shoppers come to Unger for their strawberry selection. “Strawberries will always be something we grow and pride ourselves on,” she explains. Strawberries are often a welcome harbinger, acting as the first sign of the summer in Oregon, coming into season as early as May and continuing through June. In summer of 2021 however, that timing turned disastrous.

When discussing the havoc of the heat dome, Kara begins by going back to April 2021. “In April we had some of those 90 degree days and everyone was like, ‘this is great, we’re going to have an early summer.’” She shakes her head dramatically. Those unseasonably warm days were followed by an unusually dry May. To put these amounts in perspective, May 2022 had 6.5x more rain than May 2021. Over the course of spring 2021, the Willamette Valley saw only 2.52 inches of rain, which caused a statewide drought very early in the growing season. That is where the strawberry trouble began. “With the drought in May and high heat, we had to continually irrigate – the plants don’t dry out, and you end up  almost over-watering them, they don’t get the same type of effect. Some of them [had] root rot, some just not established enough to withstand the heat. These are northwest berries, grown in the northwest and produced in the northwest for this climate. Even before the heat dome they were struggling already.”

Then came the heat. Starting on Saturday, June 26th and last through Tuesday, June 29th, Oregon saw four straight days of temperatures above 110 degrees, with some days peaking at nearly 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Greg and Kara had to think fast. Some berries were already burnt but there were still plenty on the plant. Greg called his parents and ran an unusual idea by them. “He was trying to think, we have to get some product out of the fields. We were nervous about starting crews at 5am and having it reach 100 degrees by 10am.” Throughout the duration of the heat dome, Kara and Greg implemented night picks, beginning at 1am and continuing until the temperature reached 85 degrees (usually about 6am). 

By working on this upside-down schedule, they were able to save some of their crop. All farmers are at the mercy of Mother Nature, and the only recourse is to be nimble and creative. Greg and Kara were fast and resourceful, saving what they could. But the 2021 heat dome was historic for a reason.

The summer of 2021 found Unger Farms in an unprecedented spot. Kara and Greg had just taken over ownership and management of the farm from Greg's parents, Matt and Kathy, when a historic heat dome landed right on top of them. Kara and Greg acted quickly, in an attempt to save their crop. They moved their crews to night picks, starting at 1am, with the floodlights illuminating the still steamy fields.
 
While their ingenuity was laudable, by the end of June Kara and Greg still had a harsh reality to face. “We had 95% loss on all our strawberries last year. As a farm that primarily grows strawberries and is known for strawberries, that is a huge loss.” 

And strawberries weren’t their only plants affected. Their cane berries – raspberries, blackberries – were also impacted. “The cane berries were still greening and that heat and sun completely sunburnt them, or it was way too hot for them to continue to grow.” Kara estimates they had a 45 – 50% loss on those berries. They fared better than the strawberries due to the misting systems the Ungers had in place. The misting systems are built to run over the berry bushes, as opposed to down at ground level. Their height enables them to lower the temperature around the bush by 10 degrees, when running. The question was – how much water could they really run? Oregon was in drought conditions starting in May 2021. Unger Farms gets their water from Scoggins dam and must call in and order their water supply ahead of time. “We’re calling in to irrigation folks and they’re saying, “yeah you and every other farmer need as much as you can get. Everybody is limited.” In the end, Kara is grateful for the foresight she and Greg had to install their misters, “We had the misting systems, which a lot of farms don’t. We installed it as our first project in late March 2021. So many other folks lost 80 – 100% of their crop.”

Kara took the time to explain the importance of capital projects, which require farms to invest in their infrastructure, ahead of the growing season. “Greg likes to say I married the biggest gambler out there. It keeps us away from Vegas, that’s for sure.” When Kara and Greg took over ownership in 2020, they chose two major projects to tackle: adding misters to their cane berries, and building an additional structure to house their coolers. Both choices paid off enormously. The cooler units house all of the baby strawberry plants for the following season, which allowed Unger to continue to function into 2022. Without the shelter, those units may not have held up. Kara talks about gambling with a smile, but these stakes are incredibly high. All in all, Unger Farms lost $700,000 of produce to weather in 2021. “[It was] our first year out, and they’ve never seen anything like it. We were on a budget that we would at least see a similar year to the previous five years.”

When asked how customers invested in Unger’s success can help them recover, Kara insists they already are, just by showing up.  “I know it’s frustrating when we sell out fast but continuing to support [us] and understand that we are seasonal and dependent on what mother nature says. We pick the day before [the market], and we bring what we can, we promise. We are trying to supply and it’s hard when you have seasons like this.” 

You can find Unger Farm berries at Hillsdale every Sunday through berry season, in New Seasons markets, Market of Choice stores, and their farm store in Cornelius.