Factors affecting participation in wild berry picking by rural and urban dwellers

The purpose of this study was to examine the participation of urban and rural dwellers in the activity of berry-picking. The respondents in the study lived in the city of Joensuu and in the municipality of Ilomantsi, in eastern Finland. 68% of Joensuu households compared with 82% of those in Ilomantsi participated in berry-picking. These evident differences in the participation rates may be largely due to the higher costs incurred by urban dwellers in picking, since the probability of participation was not significantly higher for Ilomantsi households compared with those in Joensuu who had access to a summer-cotta-e which was likely to be located near the berry resources. In both municipalities, the participants were divided into two groups according to the nature of their participation in the activity. The larger group - termed ordinary pickers were characteristically younger families with children, while the other group, termed active pickers, were distinctly more advanced in age. The quantities picked for home consumption by the groups of pickers in Ilomantsi were twice as large as those picked by the corresponding groups in Joensuu. In Joensuu, households were not significantly involved in commercial picking.