ABC News story that I alluded to on Friday ran on Saturday night. If you haven’t watched it, I’d say it’s worth your time.
First, I’m really glad to see network news coverage of food waste, as will raise awareness on the issue. Second, I had such a visceral aversion to seeing that worker chop up.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t terribly surprised by the report. Fruits and vegetables often aren’t picked when growers don’t feel they can get a price that justifies harvesting. Growers need to make a living and if the cost of harvesting a crop is greater than the return they’d get for selling it, they’re not going to harvest. Now, when they don’t harvest because they won’t make enough of a profit…
Either way, if farmers aren’t going to pick their crops, they really should invite gleaning groups to harvest them. If they fear a lawsuit for an injury, just get people to sign a simple waiver.
I wish ABC had focused more on the farm that invited all comers to take the crops they weren’t using, instead of just mentioning it at the end. The same kind of “free-for-all” event at a Colorado farm made news in 2008.
I was confused about why they were chopping them instead of just tilling them under. Wouldn’t it just be cheaper to just till them under? Since I’m not a strawberry grower–commercial or recreational–I’ll assume there’s a decent reason.
The timing of this segment was apt, as just today I bought Florida strawberries on sale at the market. Now I know why they were on special.
What did you think of the segment? And do farmers have any obligation to try to get food to those in need?
Comments
9 responses to “Strawberry Fields–Not Forever”
I’m stunned. I don’t know anything about farming and business practices, but it seems to me that if you had to sell a crop for less money than you expected, or than it cost you to produce it, you would be able to report a loss on it when it came time to report your yearly profit and losses. However, if a farmer is allowed to report a loss on a crop that he willfully destroyed, I’d say that is a serious problem within the system.
Strawberry plants can’t be tilled under. The plant grows for years, only making new berries each year. Sometimes, it can several seasons from a new plant before you see any berries at all.
I wonder if these strawberry farms get the same subsidies from the government that corn and soy growers do. If there is an abundance of those foods, the farmers are actually paid to destroy the crops!
This story made me cringe. What a terrible waste. I hope the few farmers who allowed gleaners to pick are rewarded for their generosity. The others should be ashamed.
Cathy, I think many farmers would rather just cut their losses, rather than incur more by harvesting a crop that they’ll sell at a loss. Plus, crop insurance can help. I’m not sure about reporting losses on items that they willfully destroyed.
Thanks, Beth. I figured there was a reason why they don’t just till them under. But what does hacking them up accomplish?
As I understand it, only commodity crops receive subsidies.
Dee Dee–yeah, doesn’t it seem odd that ones who donated didn’t get camera time? Maybe they didn’t want any publicity for simply doing the right thing.
Commercial strawberry growers, I believe, do not let strawberries go to runners like a home grower would. From watching the fields from I-4 the farmers plant new crowns each year. Also, if you noticed, the crowns are planted in holes in long sheets of black plastic. Even tho hard, farmers seem to use them more than 1 year.
Locally, one farmer said this year he was getting $.25 per pound as opposed to the typical $1. per pound in past years. He could not justify the labor to harvest for such a loss. Remember, these farmers had a horrible winter – two 7-10 days periods of 30 degree nights. This killed many plants, prevented replanting, etc.
I don’t agree with destroying food deliberately unless contaminated but I wonder if in part it is related to bank loans that these farmers get on a yearly basis – no crop, no income, carry over the loan? Could be better than I have 1/4 the income and still the same expenses. In any case, strawberries here in SW FL never got below $1.97 per pound – usually we can get 1 or 2 weeks where the price is closer to $1.25 per pound. By the way – this strawberry situation has impacted local Strawberry Festivals of churches & adult communities that are major fund raisers at the end of Snowbird Season.
It looked like they were hacking off the berry shoots, not the whole plant. There might be a better reason, but they may remove the fruit to discourage animals from coming into the fields.
I don’t pretend to understand the specifics of strawberry farming, so your suggestions are appreciated. I will say that the pack of Florida berries I bought are really bland. They’re like an ad for eating local. But I’ll cut them some slack given the crazy winter.
Note: I removed the embedded video (the link remains) because it was messing up the post.
I got so upset watching this: I try so hard to not waste at all at home, and to be very conscious of how I shop and where I eat, etc… but it sometimes feels like it doesn’t make any difference when this is what is going on on a large scale.
There was a piece on the news after one of our several frosts this year about the opportunity for people to come and pick berries instead of them going to waste – I thought that was cool. When I get enough veggie scraps right before I grocery shop, I throw them in a stockpot and make veggie broth to freeze. No waste there!