Catchin’ Some Rays

Give a strawberry a month or so of 70- to 80-degree temperatures and it’ll think it’s spring break, even in the middle of February. Witness this year’s California crop: Cosseted by mild winter temperatures, the early strawberry harvest was more than three times as large as last year’s. And the season won’t even reach its peak until Easter.

As of Feb. 17, this year’s harvest totaled 3.2 million trays, compared to 928,000 in 1995. Rain and cold in late February and early March have reduced that edge, but shipments are still more than twice last year’s.

Across the board, the state’s four early-producing strawberry regions have marked huge increases over last year, with the Santa Maria area harvesting a whopping seven times the amount of strawberries it had during last year’s rain-plagued early season.

In addition to the weather, a couple of other factors have made this such a banner winter. First, overall strawberry acreage in the state is up more than 7% over last year--including a big jump in Orange County plantings.

Then there’s the new early-bearing Camarosa berry that seems to be taking the state by storm. From 5.7% of plantings last year, it now accounts for almost a quarter of all the strawberries grown in the state. Growers like it because it produces a big red berry early. Consumers will have to judge flavor for themselves.

But while the early start has been a bonus for growers, it hasn’t meant much to consumers. Strawberry prices are roughly the same as last year’s. While California has bathed in sunshine for most of the winter, Florida--which normally accounts for most of the winter berries--suffered through a couple of major freezes. The drastic reduction in its harvest more than balanced the increase in California’s.

The rains of late February and early March did reduce California’s weekly pickings by about two-thirds, but the California harvest is now ready to hit full stride.

“Those rains slowed us down, but there were no long-term effects,” says Teresa Thorne of the California Strawberry Commission. “I’ve seen some real doom and gloom statements, but we’re growing strawberries in Southern California in the winter. We’re not naive enough to think that we won’t get rain. It’s an interruption that’s part of the equation.”