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Conference Addresses Berry Concerns

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 10, 2007

PLANT CITY - The shiny cobalt tractors and tangerine Kubota utility vehicles parked at the Trinkle Center attracted their share of attention at the recent Agritech Conference.

However, it was the promise of news on the state of the industry that coaxed growers from their fields to the local Hillsborough Community College campus to attend the two-day event that traditionally kicks off strawberry season.

With the county's berry land plowed, rolled, irrigated and awaiting final preparations, the growers gathered for a wide-ranging forum on tools, techniques and threats to this year's crop.

There were updates on pest management, government regulations and possible solutions to emerging problems.

One presentation focused on the use of bumblebees to pollinate crops in light of a mysterious, widespread die-off of hives of honeybees.

Another dealt with predicting fruit quality and yield.

These issues, though, were dwarfed by continuing concerns about migrant labor and the impending loss of methyl bromide, the most important weapon in the growers' arsenal of chemicals used in producing berries. There are no quick fixes to those problems, growers said.

Hillsborough County's 8,000-plus acres of berries - the largest winter crop - will start ripening by November. The local berry season runs through late March or early April, depending on weather conditions here and in California, which supplies the nation with berries the rest of the year.

Jan Hollingsworth

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