Drought. It’s a key topic in many conversations right now when it comes to the agriculture industry. However, it hasn’t put a damper on the strawberry season in Southern Wisconsin.
Scott Thompson, owner of Thompson Strawberry Farm in Bristol says they are right on track with last year. He expects to have berries available through the fourth of July. He explains more about their operation and how this year’s strawberry season has been.
Thompson’s family began growing strawberries in 1927 as a side crop on their apple orchard. During the 1960s they transitioned into solely growing strawberries and now have 21 acres.
“At one point we had 150 acres of pick your own strawberries,” says Thompson. “This very well could have been the largest pick your own farm in the nation at that time. Even though we have less acres now, the yield per acre is way up.”
Thompson says they are right on schedule, if not a little better than how things were last year. They begin their harvest season in the middle of June and usually end around the fourth of July or later.
All of the strawberries are irrigated through a drip system so the drought hasn’t had too much of an effect on them. Thompson added that this irrigation system allows them to be irrigating while people are out picking.
He noted the down side to the dry weather is that there is no moisture in the soil. Around late May, they experienced a frost event that typically would not have been an issue however since there was no moisture, the soil didn’t hold heat and the temperature dropped considerably.
“We lost some berries because of that,” adds Thompson. “That kind of screwed up the beginning of the season where normally we would have more acres ready. We won’t know until the end of the season economically how bad it hurt us. But it definitely screwed up the logistics of starting off the season strongly.”
The positive aspect of the drought is that Thompson has not had to worry about having any disease pressure since they can control the plant moisture through irrigation. This improves the longevity of a strawberry after being picked and put in the refrigerator.
“With the dry weather and the way strawberries grow, I encourage people to call before they come to make sure they have the best picking experience possible,” says Thompson.
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