US (LA): Good strawberry season expected despite freeze

Even after floods, freezing temperatures and droughts, Louisiana experts say that strawberry production is going to be relatively unaffected. Whitney Wallace with the LSU AgCenter doesn’t think there will be too much damage to this year’s strawberry crop. While the freeze may have affected some farmers, on the whole she expects a good season.

“You may see a slowdown, maybe a slower part of the season in February, but it’s going to pick up full swing in March and April,” Wallace said.

Wallace says the multiple floods that occurred last spring and August weren’t as devastating to strawberry production as they were to other crops, because farmers weren’t planting strawberries yet when the floods hit. She says many farmers did what they could to protect their blooms from the freeze earlier this month.

“Typically our strawberry farmers will go ahead and cover them in plastic, and that helps the strawberry plants maintain a temperature that won’t go below 32,” Wallace said.

Wallace says that, fortunately, most of the strawberry crop made it through the freeze unscathed, which should lead to a good crop in March and April. She says this is great news because strawberry farming is an important industry for the state.

“We have about 83 growers who produce more than 380 acres of strawberries, and that generates a lot of revenue for Louisiana. So we definitely want to support our local berries,” Wallace said.

source: wwl.com