Sep 29, 2015

California on pace for record strawberry crop, eVGN July 2013

In early July, California’s strawberry growers were looking at a record crop. As of the week ending July 6, the state had yielded about 118.7 million trays of fresh strawberries (the average size of a tray is 9 pounds), about 2.5 million trays more than it had yielded at the same time in 2012, according to Carolyn O’Donnell, communications director of the California Strawberry Commission.

It was still a record-size crop at that point, but O’Donnell wasn’t sure if the record would hold until the end of the year. California strawberry growers – who produce 88 percent of the U.S. crop – grow berries virtually year round, so they count the harvests by calendar year. The peak season, however, starts in April and runs until August, she said.

The state’s roughly 400 growers make their own planting decisions, based on market conditions. As a whole, they planted 40,192 acres of strawberries for 2013, a 6.5 percent increase over 2012 – and the largest amount of acres seen in years, O’Donnell said.

The strawberry crop might have been bigger, too, if a cold snap hadn’t hit southern California in January and February, she said.

Generally speaking, one to one and a half workers per acre are needed to harvest the state’s strawberry crop – which is hand harvested and field packed. That requires tens of thousands of workers. By offering incentives, sharing crews and other means, growers were finding ways to get their berries harvested, she said.

– Matt Milkovich