County’s Red-Hot Crop : Heat Wave Melts Strawberry Slump and Nurtures an Early and Plentiful Harvest

Ventura County’s strawberry fields have burst with life during the past two weeks, as warm weather has swollen the harvests of local growers.

With temperatures at unseasonably high levels across the county, strawberries are ripening faster and some local farmers have kept pace by putting more people in the fields and stretching the workweek to a sixth day.

As the county’s strawberry season enters its peak, growers say the recent heat wave has helped them pull out of an early season slump caused by cold temperatures and heavy winter rainfall.

According to the California Strawberry Commission, Ventura County strawberry farmers produced 1.8 million trays of the sweet red fruit through March 15.

Plentiful yields during the past two weeks have brought the number of trays picked since the harvest season began in mid-December to 3.6 million--just 100,000 fewer than at the same point last year, when local strawberry farmers went on to produce more than 16 million trays, a county record.

“We got started late this year, with the amount of cold weather and rain. The numbers were really slow in gathering,” said Mike Conroy, who has 130 people picking strawberries in his fields east of Ventura.

Oxnard strawberry grower Scott Deardorff said he has added about 30 field hands to his payroll during the past two weeks to keep up with his more than 100 acres of berries.

“It’s been great, weather-wise,” Deardorff said. “Our volume has gone up 50% to 60% because of the weather.” He said his farm produced 30,000 trays of berries last week and is expected to turn out about 50,000 this week.

According to the National Weather Service in Oxnard, a high pressure system over Southern California has caused temperatures in Ventura County to hover mostly in the 70s during the past two weeks, about 10 degrees higher than normal.

In Oxnard, the heart of the county’s strawberry farmland, temperatures jumped into the mid-80s Wednesday and Thursday, and were in the mid-70s Friday.

Ben Faber, a biologist at the University of California Cooperative Extension in Ventura, said clear skies and longer days have also helped, with strong sunbeams reaching local strawberry fields.

“It’s a combination of the heat and the sun,” Faber said. “We’re getting clear days with no overcast, so the plants are getting a lot of energy. It’s right in that area where they really like it.”

David Cook, a salesman for Deardorff’s farming company, said the favorable climactic shift comes just as the Easter holiday approaches, a time of the year when grocery stores traditionally have big strawberry promotions.

Currently, Cook said, the wholesale price for a tray of strawberries--which contain about 12 pints of the fruit--ranges between $10 and $12. Major grocery store chains in Ventura County are selling strawberries for about $1.50 to $2 per pint.

“If the warm weather keeps up, I think production will be very heavy in April,” Cook said.

Continued high temperatures would not necessarily be a good thing for strawberry growers. They could wind up with an overabundance.

“It’s kind of a mixed bag, because typically, if demand remains constant [and production climbs], then the price goes down,” said Rex Laird, head of the Ventura County Farm Bureau.

Conroy said the Camarosa berry, which in recent years has supplanted the Chandler as the county’s dominant strawberry variety, is not as sensitive to heat waves as its predecessor.

During the peak growing period of late March and April, about 600 trays of Camarosas are produced on an acre of farmland each week, contrasted with 900 trays if Chandlers are grown, Conroy said.

“In the extreme heat, with the Chandler, you wouldn’t be able to keep up,” he said. “As a grower, you’d be throwing more fruit away.”

He said the two berries have similar yields during the season, which lasts about six months, but the Camarosa grows at a steadier pace.

At least during the next few days, Ventura County farmers won’t have to wonder if warm weather will be too much of a good thing.

The National Weather Service on Friday predicted that temperatures in the county this weekend will be in the upper 60s, about normal for this time of year.

’ It’s been great, weather-wise. Our volume has gone up 50% to 60% because of the weather.”

Oxnard strawberry grower Scott Deardorff