One of the main reasons for Patkin's success was the introduction of a special growing technique that not many Israeli farms were using at the time: planting in containers or baskets suspended from the top of the greenhouse.
"The results of the method are high-quality berries with a shelf life that's longer than what is customary for strawberries," notes Patkin. Avoiding direct contact with the soil leads to less fungi and mold, requires fewer pesticides and makes picking easier for farm workers.
"We also pluck out the bottom leaves, so that way the strawberry is always ventilated by dry air, free of invaders."
Although this method requires infrastructure and larger investments per unit area, he says, it also yields much more produce per unit.
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