By Clint Thompson
Florida strawberry farmers are on the cusp of planting this year’s crop. Producers like Dustin Grooms, with Fancy Farms in Plant City, Florida, could use a better season than the one experienced last year. Grooms talked about the challenges that strawberry growers encountered last year in an interview with AgNet Media.
It started with the colder temperatures that impacted the region.
“Yep, the cold hurt. There was a big supply in December, and the price fell out really bad. You can throw chili thrips in there. They were spider mites. There was a lot of things, but yeah, the freeze definitely hurt last year,” Grooms said.
“We’ve had several years in a row with different issues and this year we need a good strong market. We definitely need those input costs lowered, because we can’t pass that on to the consumer. We’re at the mercy of what the people want to pay us and then we’re left to figure out how to pay all the bills.”
Grooms estimated that he would receive plants around Sept. 23 and they would start going in the ground the following day. A lot will depend on the weather and fields drying out from any recent rainfall.
“We’ve been getting a lot of rain. We’re waiting on one field right now, and it’s my wettest field,” Grooms said. “We are still okay on time, but every day, it’s like hurry up and wait. We’re losing another day, and it’s going to come right down to the wire.
“It’s just aggravating, dealing with all this rain, really kind of messing everything up.”