This reminds me of the large pumpkin patch we have here in the metro Omaha area.  It is not unheard of for folks to spend $150 for a day of pumpkin fun for the whole family.  Pumpkins sell for between 15 and 50 dollars each... plus cost of activities.  We grew our own pumpkins, and while only one ended up producing, it was 32 cents for the pack of seeds. 

Thanks for the article!

This is certainly not a universal experience. I live in Washington state and spent the whole summer making biweekly trips to the U Pick farms in Green Bluff, WA. I would agree that purchasing produce--or other products--at the quaint little shops was expensive. The farms themselves, however, offered many bargains. Never, never, never was I charged simply to enter a farm or orchard. Every farm charged a price per pound only. For example, I picked apples for 60 cents a pound and peaches for 70 cents a pound. Rasberries and cherries averaged about 95 cents a pound and were still a fraction of the cost charged by either local supermarkets or farmers markets.

About 30 minutes outside of Ann Arbor we went to Wasems orchard and paid $10.50 for a half bushel. This was at least 20 lbs of apples (A bushel is either 42 or 48 lbs depending) not including what we tasted along the way.

50 cents a lb isn't free, but it was fun. We scored some Ida Red, Rome, Empire, and Red and Yellow Delicious (Our kids like them but not me)

We live between Lancaster and Harrisburg, PA. The experience varies considerably. One very tidy place (selling jellies, etc. in a cute little shop) cost 17.50 for a half bushel - sold by weight. Another, a family run place closer to Lebanon Valley College, (Honey Bear Orchards) charged about $7 each (for at least 20 lbs. of peaches), and less for "drops". The second place was certainly a bargain, even adding in the gas, since I can, make jams, and freeze. A personal theory, go where the Mennonite ladies go, since they're into serious canning, and you'll find the best prices. Another offset, we go with another family and split the gas.

You definitely have to call around to find a U-pick place that is more about the picking and the product than the "extras". I live in SE Pennsylvania, outside of Philly and took my kids last weekend to a U-pick place in Langhorne PA. We had a great afternoon in the beautiful fall weather, paid only $0.49 per pound for the apples and got a free hay ride up and back to the pumpkin patch. Pumpkins were also reasonably priced. It was a great deal all around. We had called another local place that we had visited in the past. They were charging $0.99 per pound and everything like hay ride, corn maze etc. was an extra charge. Just like for everything else, it pays (or saves $$) to shop around. Just be willing to make some calls and ask questions.

I've visited u-pick farms in Virginia and Maryland, both within 40 miles of Washington DC, and I never had to pay an entry fee, just per pound. And that was last fall and the year before.

Those u-pick apples were slightly more expensive per pound than at regular supermarkets, but their quality far surpassed anything available in ANY supermarket I tried, including Whole Foods, in the DC area.

Tart, delicious, hardy apples at slightly higher cost than the oversized, easily bruised, virtually tasteless "apples" from the store? For me, that's a simple choice.

I went to Apples on Oak in Joliet, which is 36 miles from downtown Chicago, and paid $1/pound for heirloom apples. Granted, there were no hayrides, haunted trails, or or petting zoos, but there was a large, friendly dog, and there were plenty of kids there enjoying themselves. The farm was plenty "cute." There were rolling hillsides, and most of the varieties were marked.

I can't stand these farms that charge $3.75 for a caramel apple - a markup of a hundred percent or more on the cost of ingredients.

BTW, how is $1/pound not a savings? My local produce market charges $1.75/pound for apples that are of far worse quality than the ones I picked.

I've noticed locally grown organic lettuce is significantly cheaper for me to buy at the store than direct from the same grower at our farmer's market that is held in the store's parking lot. That irks me because our Farmer's Market receives subsidies from local city governments, so I expect direct purchases to be less expensive while still netting more profit for the farmer. But the farmer seems to view his artificially low cost of doing business as just extra profit for him.

Meanwhile, my family picks its own blueberries on a local farm and saves a lot of money over store-bought berries shipped from anywhere in the world. We buy a ton and freeze them for use over the winter when only overseas pesticide berries are in the stores.

So, check prices whatever the source.

I also have friends who've paid 50 cents a pound at U-Pick orchards.

The apples I picked, in addition to being heirloom varieties with more flavor than those available through Peapod, were organic.

Peapod may have apples on sale for $2.50/pound, but that doesn't include their fee ($6.95-9.95) and fuel surcharge.

I run a pick-your-own fruit farm in Massachusetts along with my parents. I think what you are forgetting about these types of farms is the waste our customers make compaired to a crew of pickers would. Every group of five customers eats at least 10 apples, and most of the time more because they only eat a 1/4 of each apple. That has to be factored into the price of pick-your-own. In terms of price we charge the same price for all varieties, honeycrisp, mac, red delicious, fuji, etc... where as the suppermarkets near here are charging 2.50/lb for Honeycrisp! We are roughly $1-$1.30/lb. There is also more expense in controlling and handling a crowd and there is more risk due to weather than a wholesale orchard has. Most of our customers come in 5 weekends in the fall, if it rains those weekends they cont come and the crop does not get picked, the fruit falls on the ground and is worthless. Our customers apperciate being on the farm and know they are here for more than the food - the experience!

Being a 2 hour drive from downtown Chicago, I am amazed at how many families will travel that distance for the "experience " of picking apples. And because they do drive that distance, we offer them "entertainment" to make the trip more worthwhile so they can spend the day here. We have been open since the fall of 1997 and are now having 2nd generation families continuing the tradition of going to Royal Oak Farm to pick apples. Our prices are comparable to grocery store prices unless you buy or windfall apples for $12.95 per 1/2 bushel (approx 22 lbs)which comes to 59 cents per pound. Our U-Pick or Pre-Picked prices are the same, $13 per peck or $24 per 1/2 bushel which averages about $1.10 per pound.

Most grocery store apples are from the previous year's crop maintained in Controlled Atmospheric storage in either Washington State, Michigan, or New York among a few. Going into each apple season there is an average of about 15 - 20 million bushels of apples in storage around the US and those apples will be shipped out before the current season's crop will be sold to the grocery stores. There is no better apple than a fresh tree ripened apple picked from the orchard. They should cost more because the quality is far superior than a brocery store apple.