Florida Strawberry Members

Welcome to the home of the freshest, most delicious strawberries in the world. Enjoy fresh Florida strawberries, available December through April.

Strawberry crop in fine shape

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Florida strawberry growers hold their breath as the new year unfurls with crop and market in fine shape

Ripe Red Florida Strawberries in Field

As the new year rolled into its first week, Florida strawberries were in great shape with abundant volume, excellent quality and — unlike last year — a solid market.

“I hold my breath when I say everything’s fine, but there are not too many problems just yet,” Ted Campbell, executive director of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association in Plant City, FL, told The Produce News Jan. 3. “I think the market will be okay. They’re harvesting full bore right now, which means the prices will come down with the volume of the harvest, but I think we’ll be okay.”

Early in the season, strawberry prices were at near-record highs as demand was strong and little volume was available.

Last year, Florida growers got clobbered by a trifecta of calamity: California, which is usually out of the deal by the time Florida comes on in early December, had an extended season; Mexico had tremendous volume; and a very warm winter — even by Florida standards — led to volume that simply crashed the market as growers tried to unload berries anywhere they could at any price.

Things are different this year.

Continue reading at Produce News

Strawberries in the Middle East

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Florida strawberries take root in Middle East, rest of world

Radiance, one of Florida’s bestselling strawberry varieties, is grown at the SBR Agriculture farm in Silifke, Turkey. Photo courtesy of Mehmet Ozmen.

Florida strawberries are bred to do what other strawberries can’t.

They endure a harsh climate and grow during the winter, despite fewer daylight hours and the looming threat of frost. They are tough enough to make long trips in the back of a truck when they are shipped throughout the country. And they can be grown in great volumes on small parcels of land.

“We’re the torture test of the world for strawberries,” said Ted Campbell, executive director of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association. “If we can make a berry grow in the Florida climate, it’s good to go anywhere.”

In the past few years, Florida strawberries have been growing — and making millions — in the Middle East, where there is a large demand for such a high-value, robust crop.

Royalties from Florida strawberry plants sold in Middle Eastern countries, including Turkey, Egypt and Iraq, help fund the strawberry breeding program at the University of Florida and other research and development.

“Strawberries fit in very nicely in that Middle Eastern climate,” Campbell said. “They are a popular product there, and can survive the drive to markets across bumpy country roads without getting too bruised.”

Unlike in the United States, Mideast farmers don’t have the luxury of spreading out and moving their crops around in large fields, Campbell said. They have limited space, which makes strawberries the perfect crop for them.

Continue reading at Tampa Bay Times

Ag Commissioner Optimistic

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Florida ag commissioner optimistic about future of Florida produce

A Florida Strawberry FieldThe 2012 presidential election did not go the way most Florida farmers would have preferred. The future of the Farm Bill is cloudy and workable immigration reform seems years away. Foreign competition is increasing and the Sunshine State faces challenges ranging from diseases like the citrus-destroying HLB to the ongoing tangle of water-quality restrictions imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But Adam Putnam, commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, is optimistic about the future of Florida produce.

“We have an active, progressive group that are leaders for the country, and I’m continually reminded of that when I meet with our colleagues around the country,” Commissioner Putnam said. “The challenges that Florida has and a couple of our brothers and sisters like California, the rest of the country looks to us and says ‘We need to pay attention to what’s going on there because that’s going to be going on in our backyard in two years or five years.’

“Florida agriculture continues to be strong — 300 commodities around the state. Some are having the worst year ever, others are continuing to do very well and are benefiting from the fact that trade flows and demand are continuing to grow. Just to put this in the big picture perspective, in the long run there’s nobody in a better position from a standpoint of job security than people who are in the food business,” Commissioner Putnam said….How do you feed a planet of 9 billion people without extraordinary improvements in yield and productivity that have to be driven by science? At the root of everything we do, we have to continue to embrace science and have policy makers embrace science in order to feed a growing world. We have to have another green revolution to get there. Having policies that allow our country and state to reach our potential is going to be important to global stability because 9 billion hungry people is a recipe for global catastrophe.”

Continue reading at Produce News

Berry Trend to Continue

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Strawberry Festival Best Flat CompetitionWe are proud to see the berry category continue its number one ranking in the produce department, primarily because it was achieved by volume increases rather than inflation.  Increasing berry sales over the past several years is easily explainable: continuous improvements in quality, year-round availability, fabulous health benefits, affordability, product versatility, and super high consumer popularity.

Retail growth is almost a no-brainer.  However the researchers reveal the frightening challenges to future sustainable production increases – accessibility to farm labor and escalating regulatory compliance costs in the face of intense foreign competition.  Growers are excited at the steady increase in American consumption and will continue to work to overcome the obstacles.

The Retail View: Study shows berries will continue to prosper

Rabobank, which is a major player in agricultural lending, has forecast that the current booming trend for berry sales in the United States will continue at a 7 percent annual growth rate over the next three years. And that view has support within the industry.

On Nov. 1, Rabobank’s Food and Agribusiness Research and Advisory group released a report, titled “The U.S. Fresh Berry Boom — Who Will Profit from the Growth?”

The report stated that while sales will continue to trend upward, there are mitigating factors that will make it challenging for growers and shippers to remain profitable. On that list, the report mentions escalating production costs, labor and land issues, import competition and the sheer market power of retailers as reasons producer margins will continue to face pressure.

“While the near-term outlook for U.S. fresh berry sales looks good, producers are likely to continue to experience rising costs and constrained resources,” said Karen Halliburton-Barber, assistant vice president and senior agricultural analyst for Rabobank and the author of the report, in a press release. “Successful players in the coming years will embrace growing demand with greater production efficiencies and innovation, taking advantage of new varieties and technology advancements.”

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The Rabobank report noted that California produces 88 percent of the country’s fresh strawberries and significant portions of fresh blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. Florida is also a significant producer of fresh berries, and faces similar challenges to that of California. The report said Florida also has to deal more directly with import pressure as increases in imports of strawberries and blueberries from Mexico and Chile compete directly with Florida’s season. Chile now accounts for more than 50 percent of imported blueberries.

Mr. Ronan said berry production in both this part of the world and Europe will continue to see a north-to-south shift. In Europe, he said production is moving south from northern Europe to Spain and northern Africa including Morocco, where Driscoll does have growing deals. In this area of the world, production of berries is also moving south from British Columbia and continuing all the way south along the coast to Chile. This shift will continue following seasonal patterns, but also seeing increased volume in the more southern regions.

Continue reading this article at Produce News.

Plant City and the 2012 Election

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Hillsborough County historical election results

Al Jazeera news visits Hillsborough County and Plant City to report on the unique dynamics the area has on presidential politics. The report features Parkesdale Farm Market, the famous fresh produce market run by Jim Meeks and his extended family. For Meeks, business is booming and the stand has been a mainstay of presidential campaign stops since the days of George H.W. Bush. (NPR)

The influence of Hillsborough County voters is as palpable this election cycle as it was in any other. Since the 1960s, Hillsborough County has voted with the winning candidate each and every time with only one exception. This makes the area a key campaign spot for all state and national candidates, partly because so many of the residence of Hillsborough County are independent voters.

Plant City’s mayor, Michael Sparkman, describes his constituents as voters who want to know what is best for the country and not just for themselves. Reporter Andy Gallacher remarks that Hillsborough County is itself a battleground within a battleground.

What follows is the report from Al Jazeera:

Interstate 4 runs through the battleground state of Florida. And once every four years campaigners start referring to it as the highway to political heaven. That’s because it links an array of diverse communities that are vital to both candidates.

Al Jazeera’s Andy Gallacher is traveling the length of the I-4 as part of our election coverage. He pulled into Plant City to find out why it’s such a campaign hotspot.

About Florida Winter Strawberries

In 1980, a few strawberry growers began meeting in their homes to discuss the best way to organize a group that would represent the interests of the Florida strawberry industry. On February 11, 1982, the Florida Strawberry Growers Association (FSGA) was born. Hillsborough County is recognized as the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World and the home of some of the sweetest, reddest and juiciest strawberries around.

Get Connected

Florida Strawberry Growers Association
P.O. Box: 2550
Plant City, FL 33564
Telephone: 813-752-6822
Fax: 813-752-216

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