When a devastating soil-borne disease completely wiped out this year’s strawberry crop at Mayberry Farms, owners Danielle Clark and her husband faced a heartbreaking reality. For the first time in decades, they would not be welcoming people to their pick-your-own strawberry fields this season.
Clark chose to lean into one of her business’s core values: authenticity. The Clarks, who purchased Mayville farm in 2017 to raise their children in agriculture, discovered the crisis in early spring. After pulling back the winter straw, they noticed the plants lacked their healthy green hue. An agronomist quickly confirmed the worst. Phytophthora, a soil-borne disease, had resulted in a total loss of this year’s strawberry crop.
After taking some time to process the event, Clark decided to give her community the raw, unfiltered truth. “One of our brand pillars is authenticity. We’ve always strived to just really show up authentically to our customers, and they have become this community to us that I wanted to be as open and honest with them,” Clark explained. “It was more than just telling them that there is no strawberry season. It’s really giving them all the information and letting them in to see what we’re dealing with, too.”
Community Support
Mayberry Farms was enveloped by a wave of local support. Customers flooded the family with messages, asking how they could help and demonstrating an understanding of the nature of agricultural life.
“Everyone was so understanding and supportive and asking, like, how can we help? What can we do?” Clark said. “It really showed us that our community is not only there for us, but they do understand the financial implications and the risk that’s involved with farming.”
While the loss of the strawberry season has a financial impact, the overwhelming support from the community and the family’s deep faith has given the them the strength to look toward the future. The farm plans to expand their apple orchard.
“While, yes, it is financially going to very much affect our business and our life, it is not going to define us,” Clark stated. “We are not going to let it ruin us. We are going to show our children, our community, our family that we are strong.”
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