Strawberry lovers are seeing steals at supermarket registers thanks to a surge in supply at season’s end.
Freezing temperatures shortened the fruit’s shelf life at the beginning of the year, but the return of warm weather in March kept strawberries growing into April, leaving farmers overstocked.
“That cold weather pushed everything back. The fruit’s biological clock was slowed up,” said Marcus Caswell, quality assurance manager for Wishnatzki Farms.
Ted Campbell, executive director of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association, said strawberry-picking season typically lasts from Thanksgiving to Easter and starts to peak in February. But this year the fruit did not flourish until the first week of March.
Campbell said the strawberry crop yielded about half the normal amount in January and February, and growth has been 25 to 30 percent less this season.
“The cold winter really kept the production down,” Campbell said. “And all of a sudden everything started to come into full fruit.”
While the season tends to wrap up by early April, Caswell said he expects harvesting will continue for another week.
“We’re still putting out a really good amount of fruit right now, which is not usual,” he said. ”
Retailers start outsourcing to California in March when Florida farmers lose their supply of strawberries, he said.
Though many in-state retailers are supporting Florida’s strawberry market, farmers are facing competition from out-of-state growers, reflected in the prices.
“We were forced to really sell at a rock-bottom price,” Caswell said.
Caswell suggests consumers get to their local grocery stores before California has the chance to raise the market price.
“The prices are there,” he said. “But that’ll probably end relatively soon.”
Publix has been selling 1-pound containers of the berries at four for $5 since April 1, and spokesman Dwaine Stevens said prices should remain that way until Friday.
“As long as the quantities and quality are there we’re going to keep that price,” he said.
Other stores are also promoting strawberry sales. At Winn-Dixie 2-pound boxes have been sold for as low as $3.99 while 1-pound containers were $2.99 at Albertsons and $1.50 at Walmart Supercenters.
