UF/IFAS Extension reports record breaking strawberry acreage

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Did you know that one strawberry plant can produce up to 50 berries during a single season? Now, multiply that number by thousands of strawberry rows.

That’s a lot of berries. And this year, there may be more than ever.

We’re only at the start of the strawberry season, but one farm in Plant City says it’s a promising one, that’ll be the sweetest one yet.

“This one already has a lot of flowers. It hasn’t produced the strawberry yet, but we can see they’ll soon be here, “says Fidel Sanchez, owner of Sanchez Farms.

The saying goes, “Good things come to those who wait,” and that’s been the case for Sanchez. The Plant City farm owner has about 50 acres dedicated to strawberries.

He said there are four different varieties of berries, which all have different growing schedules. And they need a lot of tending to.

“It’s really important for us to have a good climate to help the strawberries and for a good production,” Sanchez said.

This year, he said the growing season has a better outlook than last year.

“We are ahead nearly a month compared to last year, because last year, the hurricanes impacted us and set us back,” he said.

That optimism is shared by the University of Florida’s IFAS Extension Hillsborough County Office. Agribusiness Development Manager Simon Bollin said over 15,000 acres of strawberries were planted this season – that’s a record-breaking total for this area.

“There are two main reasons — one is demand, you’re not going to raise a crop if you don’t have demand for it, and two — the high usage of the strawberry acreage,” said Bollin.

The extension office said a season that started dry with no hurricanes created a good environment for the berries. They also attribute the high number of acreages to expansion into Manatee and Polk County.

Sanchez said he wants to continue to share his love for farming through his crops.

“This season, I think, it’s going great.” he said. “If you look at the plant, everything looks beautiful.”

With more plants in the ground and promising conditions, this season could be the Bay Area’s best ever.

The strawberry season goes until March or April, so you’ll start to see more berries in the local stores as we get further into the season.