Farmers leave strawberries to rot as prices collapse

Strawberry farmers in Florida are facing such a sharp collapse in prices for their berries that many are deciding to simply leave huge tracts of the berries to rot in the fields.

This only adds to a cold-induced disaster in Florida agriculture this year and spurs some bitter irony for homeowners who suffered sinkholes and water shortages as nearby farmers drained groundwater in hopes of staving off frost damage.

Matt Parke, for instance, looks out at his farm fields, full of strawberries, and just sighs.

"Our biggest block of 65 acres, we just had to drop and leave there," said Parke, a farmer for Parkesdale Farms Inc. in Plant City. The market is already flooded with an abnormally huge wave of berries, pushing prices well below the break-even point for farmers.

All around Plant City, farmers are making the same decision.

"We still owe a lot of money on this year's crop," said Carl Grooms of Fancy Farms Inc. "And we needed to pick fresh fruit at a profit, and that's not occurring right now."

Every March, some small fraction of berries will stay in the field, Grooms said. But this year, his volume is down 50 percent. Huge areas of his land will go dormant with berries on the plants. Blame the abnormally cold weather in Florida this spring.

Cold causes

Farmers try hard to prevent this kind of disaster. Normally, they plant berries at different times so berries ripen in phases through springtime.

But the cold weather delayed growth of those early plantings, so all the berries turned ripe at the same time - flooding the market. Plus, berries from California are now coming on the market too, competing with Florida's crop.

Wholesale prices that were $17 to $19 per flat of eight containers have now fallen to $5 to $6 per flat, both Grooms and Parke said. Parke said some farmers have tried shipping berries to stands to sell on consignment, but if they only return $3 per flat on each shipment, they lose money on each deal.

Other crops suffered from the cold. Tomatoes, for instance, were in such short supply that many restaurants only put slices on sandwiches when specifically requested, or told customers tomatoes weren't available.

Adding a sad twist the strawberry situation, the berries that do show up in grocery stores are abnormally sweet this year, because they spent more time on the plant.

Water anger

Emily Cooper of Plant City said she's fed up with strawberry farmers, especially after they drained groundwater so much that sinkholes opened up.

"I went three weeks without water, and I have sinkholes all around my home," Cooper said. "I can barely get out of my neighborhood."

A life-long Plant City resident, she's not received any money from nearby farmers for compensation and said she's not surprised prices for berries have fallen so far.

"Nobody wants them," she said. "A lot of people in this community are fed up with them ... I'm not letting another strawberry in my home."

Both Parke and Grooms said they know people will ask why they don't just let customers come pick their own berries. And some farmers may do that for a few acres.

But two things generally prevent farmers from going the you-pick route.

First, liability. If a person walks out in the field and breaks an ankle in the mud, the farmer could be sued. Second, farmers like Parke are already planting new crops like vegetables in rows between the berry plants.

"You just can't have people tromping around there," Parke said, "and pulling up that young pickle plant."