Make sure to fit picking some of Wisconsin’s freshest and most delicious berries from family-owned farms into your summer plans.
Wisconsin is known as America’s Dairyland, with more than 58,000 farms across the state, according to the State of Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. But not all of those farms are dairy farms. In fact, many of them grow an assortment of fruit, including berries.
In a culinary sense, berries are small fruits that have seeds, rather than the large pit found in many other fruits, and can be found growing on plants, in bogs, and in bushes at farms throughout the state.
The state grows several different types of berries, from its famed cranberry bogs to family-owned strawberry, blueberry, and raspberry farms. A lot of these farms allow visitors to share in the experience of finding a perfectly ripe berry on a bush or plant and picking it for themselves to enjoy at home.
As summer approaches, the season for berry picking in Wisconsin is ramping up, and farms will be getting ready to welcome visitors and prospective pickers, so here is your guide to berry picking throughout the state in 2026.
What exactly are berries?
It might seem pretty obvious what berries are, especially when so many fruits end with the word berry: strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry—the list goes on. But what differentiates those fruits from others?
Technically, in botanical terms, many fruits that have “berry” in their names aren’t berries at all. The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single flower containing one ovary, while most fruits that are thought of as berries develop from multiple ovaries in a single flower. So, fruits like bananas and avocados are berries, while strawberries and blackberries are considered pseudocarps, or false fruits.
But the botanical definition of a berry is different from the culinary definition of a berry, which includes small fruits that have small seeds rather than a large pit. Fruits that are considered a berry in the culinary sense include strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, white currants, blackcurrants, and redcurrants.
Even though the many fruits with berry in their name aren’t berries in a botanical sense, that doesn’t matter when it comes to berry-picking season in Wisconsin. There are farms all across the state that allow visitors to come and pick their own strawberries and blueberries.
What berries grow in Wisconsin?
Wisconsin is well known as a berry-producing state, as the state is the largest producer of cranberries in the country. But Wisconsin also grows several other berry varieties as well, including strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.
When is berry picking season?
If you’re picky about which type of berry you want, paying attention to what season it grows in is extremely important, as berries that grow in Wisconsin bloom at wildly different times.
Typically, the first berry to bloom each year is the strawberry, which is prime for picking between late June and early July. Strawberries also have one of the shortest growing seasons out of the berries that can be found in Wisconsin, so strawberry fans shouldn’t hesitate to go picking.
Raspberries have a long growing season, and are at their best for picking between July and September, with several farms offering opportunities for visitors to pick raspberries themselves.
Blueberries can grow wild in Wisconsin, but several farms also offer picking opportunities for visitors, with the fruit typically growing between July and August.
Bures Berry Patch
3760 West Brigham Road, Barneveld
For 25 years, Ed and Kathy Bures have been growing an assortment of fruits and vegetables at Bures Berry Patch, including strawberries and raspberries. It’s important to check out Bures Berry Patch’s regularly updated website to see what’s currently growing and available in the patch before visiting.
If you can’t make it out to Bures Berry Patch to pick your own berries, there are still plenty of opportunities to purchase some of the berry patch’s finest pickings. Bures Berry Patch sells its produce at several area farmers markets, including the Mineral Point Market, Mount Horeb Farmers’ Market, and the Dane County Farmers’ Market.
Furger Family Farm
N1204 Lovering Road, Lodi
For the Furger family, each year has a countdown until June, when strawberry-picking season can begin at Furger Family Farm. The farm opens its strawberry fields to visitors each year for the u-pick strawberry season, which only lasts for a few weeks each June.
Furger Family Farm only accepts cash or check, and u-pick strawberries cost $3.25 per pound. Typically open from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m., the Lodi farm recommends calling before stopping by to get the most accurate prices and hours.
Blue Skies Farm
10320 North Crocker Road, Brooklyn
The only two crops that Blue Skies Farm grows are asparagus and raspberries, and they do both exceptionally well. That’s why visitors travel to the Brooklyn-based farm, which is owned and operated by Paul and Louise Maki, for its u-pick raspberry season, which runs from late-August through mid-September.
The farm grows an acre of red, orange, and yellow raspberries. During the raspberry-growing season, it’s open from Sunday through Friday, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., or until they run out of berries. Blue Skies Farm recommends calling its phone number (608) 455-2803 before visiting to find out if there is a sufficient supply of raspberries to be picked.
Chet’s Blueberry Farm
525 County Road J, Stevens Point
Chet’s Blueberry Farm grows more than 10 varieties of blueberries in more than 12,000 bushes, which span over three acres at the Stevens Point farm. While the farm offers some pre-picked blueberries for sale, it seems tailor-made for anyone looking for a u-pick experience, with well-maintained, mowed grass in between rows of the farm’s many blueberry bushes.
If visitors don’t feel like walking around the farm themselves, Chet’s Blueberry Farm provides golf carts, where customers can be driven through the farm’s multiple acres. The farm, which is typically open from mid-July through August for u-pick blueberries, also provides wheelchair-accessible paths and chairs and stools for anyone who needs them.
Thompson Farm
6521 156th Ave. Bristol (U-pick fields), 7825 144th Ave., Bristol (Strawberry Festival/Adventure Farm)
There is a lot to pick at Thompson Farm: from strawberries in the early summer to raspberries in the late summer and early fall, and even sunflowers in August. The farm dates back more than a century, when the first Thompson family farm in Kenosha County operated as an apple orchard. The farm’s first strawberries, which it continues to excel in, were planted nearly 100 years ago.
U-pick strawberries at Thompson Farm cost $18 for a four-quart basket, and if visitors pick five baskets of berries, the sixth is free. Additionally, access to the fields costs $5 per car on weekdays and $15 per car ($12 if purchased online) on weekends.
The farm doesn’t just offer u-pick strawberry experiences, though; it also hosts a Strawberry Festival. Admission to the festival costs $13 per person on weekdays and $15 per person on weekends when tickets are purchased at the gate. If pre-purchased online, tickets are $9.95 on weekdays and $11.95 on weekends. A ticket to the strawberry festival doesn’t include entry to the u-pick strawberry fields, but does include strawberry-flavored snacks and drinks, a petting zoo, and entrance to Thompson Farm’s Adventure Farm.
