Minnesota strawberry grower destroys crop due to dry conditions
By WCCO News reporter Jason Rantala
ST. FRANCIS, Minn. – It's opening day for strawberry picking at Becky's Berries in St. Francis, where this year there are plenty of ripe red strawberries for the taking.
"It seemed that the heat brought the fruit coming on early," said owner Becky Moritz.
Melissa Denning came to Becky's Berries with her sons Avery and Charlie to take part in an early summer tradition.
"They like strawberries and cream and I enjoy making strawberry rhubarb jam," Denning said.
Great berries have taken more work this year with the dry start to the season. Moritz said the ability to irrigate daily, combined with the fact her strawberry plants are only a few years old, have been her saving grace this year.
"We've been able to irrigate, we've had to irrigate, if we did not irrigate you would find that we had very small fruit," Moritz said.
Kevin Edberg, owner of The Berry Patch near Forest Lake, said his irrigation system cannot make up for the lack of rain.
"I've never destroyed a crop before harvest," Edberg said.
Edberg said the best decision was to mow over his crop because his strawberries are too small. He's hoping for a better crop next year.
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"I made a decision for the first time in 46 years to say 'nope, we're not gonna do this one,' and it feels really weird," he said.
While Edberg also grows raspberries and blueberries, he said the loss of strawberries will disappoint the few thousand people who rely on him, while in the end costing him about half his gross income.
"This is a climate change story, and if we're going to figure a way out of it, it's gonna take a lot of time, a lot of people doing really hard thinking and spending a lot of money."