Latvia's border berry pickers contend with deforestation and emigration

This year, the blueberry and chanterelle harvest in the border forests is not as abundant as four years ago, but after a three-year break, when there were almost no blueberries, berry and mushroom pickers are once again going to the forest to collect nature's gifts. Although the purchase prices of berries and mushrooms are high this year, the harvested volume is much smaller than before. On a weekday afternoon in the village of Goliševa, Ludza region, which is located just a few kilometres from the Latvian-Russian border, local residents gather in the square to sell blueberries and chanterelles picked in the surrounding forests to commercial buyers, who take them away and sell them on. Photo: Iveta Čigāne / LSM Latgales redakcija Melleņu un gaileņu uzpirkšana Goliševā Andris, a local resident of Goliševa, earns money in his free time by picking blueberries.