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Thursday, February 27, 2025

Strawberry farmers face challenges, but The Bryer Patch perseveres amid setbacks

From weather to fungus, the farm’s owners navigate the challenges of running a U-Pick farm

Heather and Travis Boyd stand amongst the bright red strawberries that grow from the many rows of plants at The Bryer Patch on Feb. 21, 2025.
Heather and Travis Boyd stand amongst the bright red strawberries that grow from the many rows of plants at The Bryer Patch on Feb. 21, 2025.

Going to a U-Pick strawberry farm can be a wholesome experience, but it takes a lot of work to get the berries ready for picking. 

Heather and Travis Boyd own The Bryer Patch, a U-Pick farm located at 5700 SW 250th St., Newberry, Florida, spanning 30 acres with 2 acres dedicated to planting strawberries. Wind rushes through the open strawberry fields, with countless rows of plants growing the precious berries. 

Travis Boyd, 45, is a fourth-generation farmer, and Heather Boyd, 39, grew up on a farm. But it’s only their third year growing strawberries for U-Pick. The Bryer Patch gets its name from their 12-year-old daughter.

Florida summers are too hot to propagate strawberry plants, Heather Boyd said, so she and her husband ship in new plugs — small plants ready to be transplanted — from Canada each year. Getting these plants to produce ripe, red strawberries week after week for picking doesn’t happen without some challenges, Heather Boyd said.

Not including labor and upkeep, the Boyds spent roughly $7,000 on strawberry plants this season, which equals about 20,000 plants. 

The morning of Feb. 21, Heather and Travis Boyd, dressed in winter jackets, discussed whether they’d open their fields to visitors for the upcoming weekend after pouring rain bruised and blemished many of the ripe strawberries. 

Strawberries can still be eaten with blemishes, but they’re not as attractive for pickers and will rot faster than unblemished berries, Heather Boyd said. Their two blue heeler cattle dogs, Teeter and Sugar, followed them through the field, playing.

“It’s a tough business,” Travis Boyd said. “Every one of these strawberries would have been perfect for picking.”

The other main challenge is dealing with freezing temperatures. Strawberries thrive in cold weather, but freezing conditions can be detrimental. The Boyds use overhead irrigation to create a protective barrier around the plants, but this requires a diesel engine to pump the water and constant surveillance to ensure the irrigation system doesn’t malfunction.

Strawberries at the Bryer Patch are primarily sold through U-Pick, with a small portion sometimes offered pre-picked. They also use strawberries at the farm’s concession stand at the front of the farm for items such as strawberry lemonade and strawberry milkshakes.

The farm sells roughly 300 to 400 pounds of strawberries each week, Heather Boyd said. Visitors pay $4.50 for a pound of strawberries, but after recent rain damage, the Boyds said they’re considering adjusting the price.

Earlier in the season, a fungus spread among the strawberry crops and had to be fought off by fungicide and pruning. At this point in the season, Travis Boyd said, the plants should be larger and almost touching each other. Instead, they appear small and separated, and many plants have dark brown patches on the leaves.

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Another obstacle the Boyds have to look out for is deer, which like to feast on the fruit and its leaves. A fence wraps around the strawberry field to keep out the animal, but if they manage to get through, deer can spread diseases from one plant to another as they work their way around the rows of plants.

Amid obstacles, The Bryer Patch still holds special events. For Valentine’s Day, the farm hosted a date night, which cost $150 per couple and included a steak dinner, live music and each couple getting to pick their own strawberries. The day after Valentine's Day, all of the ripe berries were picked.

Despite challenges, Heather Boyd said, she believes The Bryer Patch is not too different from other strawberry farms.

“Everybody has really good strawberries in this area, and we’re all family-owned and operated, so we all know what it takes to make it work,” she said.

Katelynn Turney-Rudisill, a 21-year-old UF music education senior, grew up going to a U-Pick farm near Panama City, Florida, on school field trips. 

Turney-Rudisill said she remembers the tour guide who showed her how the farm worked and how strawberries grow. His stories made her laugh, and she said the strawberries she picked herself tasted better than ones from the grocery store.

“Young me really didn't like fruits or vegetables at all, but then, knowing where they came from and how much effort and time it took for these farmers to grow them — it was like, ‘Woah, OK, so there's a lot of time and effort and care put into how farmers do things,’” Turney-Rudisill said.

The Bryer Patch is typically open on Saturdays and Sundays, but the weather and the number of strawberries picked leaves opening times subject to change. Strawberry season lasts from January through April.

Contact Corey Fiske at cfiske@alligator.org.

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