Strawberry harvest back to normal
Saanich Peninsula strawberries are just making their appearance, a little later than last year, but sweeter for the extra time on the plants.
Satnam Dheensaw, part of the family that owns the 90-acre Gobind Farms in Central Saanich and North Saanich, said this year’s strawberry harvest could have started at the end of May. But picking didn’t begin until June 2.
“We were a little behind with all the planting and other stuff,” Dheensaw said Tuesday. “So we just let them ripen on the plant a little longer.
“Those few extra days on the plant increases the flavour a little more.”
Dheensaw said this year’s harvest was a return to more traditional picking times. The last two years, picking began in early May, spurred by the early arrival of spring, lots of sunshine and a warmer winter with less rain.
Besides natural rainfall, Gobind Farms uses a drip irrigation system to deliver moisture directly to the roots of the strawberry plants. Between that and the choice and timing of fertilizers, selection of berry varieties and other techniques that Dheensaw said were farm secrets, Gobind Farms works hard to be first on the local market.
Dheensaw said he believes Gobind Farm strawberries were the first to hit the wholesale market. They’re now on sale in most grocery stores on Vancouver Island, for about $4.50 a pound.
They’re competing with California strawberries selling for $2.99 a pound and even less, said Dheensaw, adding the difference comes from California’s high production levels and supply of pickers. That price difference, however, is overshadowed by the higher quality in local berries, in flavour, sugar levels, juice and colour, he said.
“Ours are red inside — they are sweet and they are juicy,” said Dheensaw. “We take a few less berries off the plant, but for quality and flavour, there is no comparison.”
The rhubarb crop also looks good this year, he said.
Other berry crops to follow include raspberries expected in early July, blackberries in about two weeks, blueberries in two to 21⁄2 weeks and boysenberries in two weeks.
With an annual total harvest of 122,000 tonnes, berries are one of B.C.’s most important crops, said B.C. Ministry of Agriculture spokesman Dave Townsend. He said 2015 figures, the most recent available, show B.C. was Canada’s No. 1 producer of both blueberries and raspberries.
Provincial farmers harvested 70,000 tonnes of blueberries worth $140 million for 53 per cent of the national total. Raspberries were at 8,000 tonnes worth $18 million and 56 per cent of the national total.
B.C. was second in production of cranberries, with 44,000 tonnes worth $41 million, for 37 per cent of the national total. Strawberries might arrive sooner than other berries in B.C., but their total production was just a little over 1,000 tonnes in 2015, worth just over $5 million, too little to be ranked nationally.