Florida strawberry volume growing after slow start

Florida’s 2019-20 strawberry deal got off to a slow start just before Thanksgiving, but grower-shippers said volume gradually was picking up, and supplies should be plentiful by the first of the year.

Watsonville, Calif.-based Well-Pict Inc. started picking in Florida the week before Thanksgiving as usual, said Jim Grabowski, director of marketing.

Cool weather limited early volume, and fruit size was a bit small, he said. But sizing should increase as the season progresses.

“Quality is looking good right now,” Grabowski said in early December. “We should be in full-blown production by the end of December.”

Well-Pict’s volume and acreage should be similar to last year’s.

Astin Strawberry Exchange LLC, Plant City, Fla., started picking a little later than usual because of a later planting schedule, said Shawn Pollard, sales representative.

The company usually starts planting in late September, but this year that didn’t happen until early to mid-October.

“We waited to get cold air on the nursery plants,” Pollard said.

The plants are grown in the higher elevations of North Carolina.

Cooler weather helps plant produce a healthier crop, he said.

“January will be real good for us,” he said, though he expected December to be a “struggle.”

The start date for Plant City-based Wish Farms was a week or so behind past seasons because of cool weather, but Gary Wishnatzki, president, CEO and owner, was optimistic.

“Overall, the look of the crop is as good as I’ve ever seen,” he said. “There should be real good volume in January.”

Growers have to be concerned about freezes during the winter, and some climatologists say there could be unusually cold weather over the next few months, Wishnatzki said.

He recalled historic freezes that hit Florida in 2010 with temperatures dropping into the low 20s.

“Barring anything like that, we should have a big January this year,” Wishnatzki said.

Bova Fresh LLC, Boca Raton, Fla., started picking the week before Thanksgiving, which is “a little early for us,” said owner Bob Wilhelm.

He attributed the early start to hot, damp conditions during the summer.

“Summer was hot as can be — and pretty wet,” he said.

But as fall progressed, weather got milder and actually turned cold.

Berries were sizing up in early December, and Wilhem said all that was needed was “more sunshine to color them up.”

He expected temperatures to get into the high 70s or low 80s by the second week of December.

“Quality has been pretty good, Wilhelm said. “The berries were a little small on the first few pickings, but they’re starting to size up now.”

Watsonville-based California Giant Berry Farms’ Florida crop “looks great,” Cindy Jewell, vice president of marketing, said in early December.

“Volume is going to pick up every week for the next several weeks,” she said.

The company already had progressed from shipping pallets to shipping truckloads, and Jewell said volume should be good by January, if not by Christmas.

“The weather has been very cooperative,” she said.

Plants and fields were looking healthy, and berry size and color were “great.”

A Florida program is important for Well-Pict because it fills a gap in California production during December and January and allows the company to offer year-round availability on its strawberries, Grabowski said.

The Florida deal was invaluable in early December this year, when rainfall pretty much shut down picking in California for a time.

Florida strawberry volume growing after slow start

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