SALEM, Ore. -- With tightening times and high gas prices, business at least one Willamette Valley U-pick is booming, but those aren't the only reasons.

AgMap photo

Picking blueberries.

Increasingly, people want to know more about where their food comes from, and on a recent sunny Saturday Kayleen Arredondo, her family found out first-hand.

"It's good prices, you know the fruit is good, and it's a pleasant way to spend the afternoon," Arredondo said. "Plus it's an opportunity to let my son know where the fruit at the supermarket comes from."

They were picking blueberries at nearby Olson's U-Pick farm.

"It's a nice day, the berries are a little cheaper than at the grocery store, and I think the berries taste better," said Salem resident Eric Jorgenson, who was at a fruit stand there.

U-pick sales at Olson Farms fruit stand are booming.

"I wish we had more U-pick," Darin Olson said. "People are hungry for fruit this year. It's a cheaper alternative, and with the economy the way it is, I think it is attracting customers."

U-picks close to town benefit consumers worried about high gas prices.

"That makes a big difference," Olson said.

Randy Gerold of Salem says he likes both the atmosphere at the farm and likes the prices.

"I get the fruit I want. It's less expensive, and you get outdoors," Gerold said. "It's fun. I like the hunt."

But Olson said there are downs as well as ups in the U-pick business.

Harvest costs are reduced, Olson said. But pickers occasionally drive cars over irrigation pipe or otherwise damage farm equipment, and liability and theft have become issues.

"We actually have a lot of video surveillance around the farm. Theft has become a very big issue," he said.

U-pick opportunities at many farms extend into mid-September.