By Clint Thompson
The recent cold snap impacting Florida benefited the region’s strawberry crop, believes Matt Parke, farm manager of Parkesdale Farms in Plant City, Florida. He said the crop size will improve as a result.
“We needed this cold weather we’re getting. We had abnormally warm weather leading up to this point. I saw a lot of our fruit, and I was like, ‘Man, we’re losing size.’ They were just ripening too fast,” Parke said. “This cold weather right here is going to slow them down, but it’s also going to help with sizing out the fruit that’s on the bush.”
Parke said the cold weather will slowly ripen the fruit so it has time to mature properly.
He added that this year’s strawberry crop is lagging behind the 2024 crop.
“We’re behind last year, probably about 500 (8-pound flats) to the acre. We’re catching up, but I think it’s going to be a low volume year for us,” Parke said. “I think it had to do with the hurricane, having late berries planted and then weather-related events post hurricane. We had a dry winter, but it was a cold one.
“We could potentially catch up. We’ve got the fruit on the bush, so we just need to get it picked. Hopefully, the market prevails, and we can keep going forward.”