Farm Credit Services of America

had good luck recruiting local church groups. “Having our local church groups come out is really a win/win for everyone. They’re looking for a fundraiser, we’re looking for help. We’ve very blessed to have the strong churches in the area. It’s actually been fun for people and it’s been a great family thing,” he said.

During August, they are usually harvesting every couple of days – all by hand labor. “We’ve done some experimenting with machine harvest – but, as far as we know, there is no machine harvester for elderberries anywhere in the U.S. or the world,” said Mark. Verlyn said there is also no commercial machinery for processing the berries either. “You have to modify all the available equipment to work for elderberries. Nobody in the U.S. is dehydrating berries like we are. We’ve had to basically figure out all of this by ourselves.”

Once the fruit clusters have been picked, they have to be processed immediately. They’re fed into de-stemmers which separate stems from the berries. The berries then go into a process line which starts with a sanitization bath. The ripe berries will sink, but the unripe berries and

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Sheldon office at 800-728-4278. Hwy 18 East Sheldon, IA or Sioux City office at 800-383-0630. 4512 S Lakeport St Sioux City, IA Elderberries are tiny – much smaller than blueberries.