Apr 1, 2021

Hydroponic tabletop strawberry approach drives project by three partners

Expectations are high for the first-ever Ocean Spray specialty berry pack which debuts this fall, backed by a trio of partners intent on elevating the category with a unique tabletop strawberry proposition.

New Wave Berry, LLC is a joint venture formed by grower, marketer and distributor Oppy, family-owned agribusiness Red Dog Management and agricultural investment firm Farmers Gate. Its new hydroponic tabletop strawberry line will be grown in a newly-constructed high tunnel facility in Santa Maria, California. Building upon Oppy’s exclusive partnership with Ocean Spray, the agricultural cooperative owned by more than 700 farmer families, the venture looks to further advance strawberry production practices and bring a uniquely sustainable item to market.

“With such diversification across categories at Oppy, I couldn’t be more excited for this one in particular,” said President David Smith. “This concept combines care for the planet with care for the people, and is poised to deliver an excellent strawberry experience for our customers and their shoppers. Berries have been an increasingly vital component of our product mix and I’m really proud to see our focus come to fruition with this innovative new line.”

Requiring fewer inputs than field-grown strawberries, hydroponics deliver just the right nutrition at the roots of the plants to ensure the use of fewer chemicals and far less water. The lack of required groundwork by growing on tabletops also makes labor less arduous for those tending the plants and harvesting the berries while greenhouse efficiencies enable year-round work and production. The result? Healthy, flavorful, brightly colored berries.“It’s not every day we get to build something from the absolute ground up, or tabletop up, you might say in this instance,” Oppy’s VP of Categories, Berries and Greenhouse Jason Fung said. “Bringing a new item, a new brand extension and a new way of growing to the market, I think this is an opportunity to change the game really quickly. We certainly see a future on a large scale growing in this way and will be able to do so with such great partners.”

Oppy and Red Dog Management have brought field berries to the market for several years. Fung shared this more environmentally friendly and sustainably sound way of growing is a major driver for all of the partners; it has garnered a lot of enthusiasm amongst the group as they pave a new path in their farm-to-store integration.