Farm & Ranch

Strawberry fields forever — A Texas possibility

Published

9 years ago

March 9, 2015

NTFR

By: Kathleen Phillips

Writer: Kathleen Phillips, 979-845-2872, [email protected]
Contact: Dr. Russ Wallace, 806-746-4052, [email protected]
Dr. Joe Masabni, 979-324-1244, [email protected]
Dr. Juan Anciso, 956-968-5581, [email protected] STATION — Having fresh, local strawberries within reach across Texas is getting closer to reality, though growers and researchers alike say producing the popular fresh fruit is a new field altogether.

“Our goal was to add 5 percent to the acreage and we’ve done that,” said Dr. Russ Wallace, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service horticulturist in Lubbock. “There are a lot of interested people. We have revitalized the Texas strawberry industry and gotten people thinking.

“But there’s a big learning curve. I’m in my sixth season and have increased yields each year based on what I learned from each previous crop.”

Wallace is leading a two-year research effort as part of the National Strawberry Sustainability Initiative, which focused on production techniques the first year and is zoning in on marketing until it ends in June of this year. The project was funded by the Walmart Foundation and administered by the University of Arkansas.

On paper, the effort sounds small. With just 125 acres or so of commercial strawberries in Texas when the project began in 2013, Wallace said, the effort may have led to another six or seven acres and 15-20 new growers.

But one strawberry plant, given the appropriate production care, can yield more than a pound of berries a season, he said. At a recommended price of $5 a pound, the value can quickly add up, even when a grower starts “small, with 1,000 plants,” Wallace noted.

Still, Wallace and the 50 colleagues and growers who are a part of the project will be the first to admit, producing strawberries from the Texas Panhandle to the Rio Grande Valley has its challenges.

“One of the first things we learned is that strawberries don’t like heat,” Wallace said. “So, we learned to plant them in the fall and overwinter them.”

That means somewhere in Texas, strawberries are being harvested from November until June, he said, thanks to plastic-covered high tunnel structures in the more northern climes.

“Strawberry production in Texas is profitable but tricky,” said Dr. Joe Masabni, AgriLife Extension horticulturist in College Station, who has assisted producers in the project around Central Texas. “In Texas, the weather fluctuates very much. We may have two or three days of 70 degree weather in January or February and then in 24 hours it drops to 30 and the fruits get frozen. Or there’s too much moisture, which can lead to disease. These are the challenges that we are learning and teaching our producers.”

Masabni noted that there isn’t “one cookbook recipe applicable everywhere in Texas.”

“We have five climatic regions and every region has its own tips and tricks for producing a good crop,” he said.

Grower Larry Jollisant of Plantersville knows the challenges all too well. With acres of gorgeous green leafy plants loaded with ripening fruit in late February, a freeze hit, taking a toll on his crop.

Days later when the temperatures were heading to the low 70s, Jollisant gathered area workers to inch down each row, removing brown, dying leaves and spoiled fruit. From his truck cab, he used an electronic tablet to get the latest weather reports – another freeze was predicted that night – and to find online information on disease symptoms. Special frost blankets were already stretched out in the field, ready to be thrown over the plants to protect from the expected freeze.

“It’s a challenge,” said Jollisant, who has grown strawberries for three years. “There’s always something. But I appreciate having the specialists at Texas A&M AgriLife who are able to consult with me about what to do. It all takes money though, so I have to decide.”

Jollisant and his family were weighing the costs of protecting the crop against the labor involved, and factoring in a strawberry festival and a couple of field days planned at their organic, pick-your-own farm this spring.

In the Rio Grande Valley, the challenges are different but still there are challenges, according to Dr. Juan Anciso, AgriLife Extension horticulturist in Weslaco.

“Every year is different, but that’s what you call farming,” Anciso said. “This year we have never dropped below 32 in the Valley, but our weather has been cool and overcast and cloudy since November. So there has been very little sunlight, and our plants are not as vigorous.”

For people like Jollisant who don’t shy away from a challenge and want to give strawberries a try in Texas, the production lessons learned by the project participants have been described in a handbook, “Production Guide for Texas-Grown Strawberries,” available on the online Texas A&M AgriLife Bookstore, https://www.agrilifebookstore.org/.

“It had been about 40 years since a book had been written about growing strawberries in Texas,” Wallace said. “We have some new techniques since then, like covering beds with plastic and ways to prevent varmints from devouring the crop.”

Along with producing a crop, the team has also realized that marketing the yield takes a lot of information and skill as well.

“Texas strawberries are potentially a very profitable crop,” Wallace said. “And part of the success comes from the confidence of the growers to sell at a good price. In this final year of the project, we are encouraging them to do better marketing.”

He said growers have sold directly to restaurants for $5 a pound, at a farmers market for $4 a pound, and early in the season – before a lot are on the market – for $6 a pound.

“We would not encourage a farmer to sell any lower than $4 a pound,” he said, adding that a producer’s breakeven yield is about 1.25 pounds per plant.

Nationally, strawberries are a small but high-dollar crop. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 59,895 harvested acres were valued at almost $2.9 billion in 2014.

Anciso said growers plant 12,000-24,000 plants per acre, at a wholesale cost of 40 cents per plant, meaning it may cost $10,000 per acre just to plant, and producers are “doing well to get 1 pound per plant.”

“I think getting fresh strawberries for $5 a pound for a local, quality product is good,” Ancisco said.

“Strawberries are a great crop for Texas, because they can be available first among other fruit crops for people to pick and enjoy as fresh, healthy fruits,” Masabni said.

“We want to grow strawberries in the Valley,” Anciso added. “They haven’t been grown here on a large scale, but if we could at least supply the local demand, the restaurants and the farmers market, that would be great. Maybe 100 acres could be an awesome goal.”

“We plan to continue for the duration of the project with the marketing, sales and production aspects,” Wallace said. “We need to improve techniques with the growers and continue to find more and better varieties.”

-30-

Farm & Ranch

Land Market Report: March Land Sales

Published

2 days ago

May 2, 2024

NTFR

By Jared Groce

Rural land sales are continuing on a steady pace for early spring, with prices holding very strong with the sell-to-list price ratios remaining very high, even on properties that have been on the market for a longer than usual time period. The total number of transactions are picking up once again as the spring selling season kicks off, and the average acreage continues to decrease.

Larger acreage properties seem to be in higher demand than smaller properties currently, with many buyers simply parking cash in real estate to hedge against inflation. Interest rates seem to have settled down and most experts agree that rates will be reduced by the fed this year. Some lenders have programs in place that allow the buyer to reduce their rates without having to go through a full refinance ordeal.

To read more, pick up a copy of the May issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.

Farm & Ranch

Texas FFA State Vice President Weston Parr

Published

3 days ago

May 1, 2024

NTFR

Future Farmers of America was founded by a group of farmers in 1928 with the mission of preparing the next generation of agriculture. It has done just that during its 95-year history, as the organization works to give back to others by following its motto, “learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live, living to serve.”

FFA is an organization made up of state associations, and at the helm of the Texas FFA is a team of 12 officers representing their respective areas within the Lone Star State. These individuals dedicate a year of their lives as they serve members, provide leadership, and work together with the state staff and board of directors to develop policy and lead the organization of over 177,000 members.

North Texas is represented by Area IV and Area IV, stretching from Wilbarger County to Bell County and from Runnels County to Grayson County. This year, those chosen to lead this great area are State President Isaac Hawkins Jr., Area IV, and State Vice President Weston Parr, Area V.

Parr is from the Sam Rayburn FFA chapter and the Area V Association, but the leader who now serves more than 19,100 members of Area V entered the FFA organization as a shy teenager who sat in the back of the room.

“I didn’t talk to a whole lot of people. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life or where I could see myself, so I wasn’t involved on my high school campus,” Parr recalled.

“Then I started FFA and slowly but surely, my ag teachers worked me into attending more contests, meeting new people, and speaking. I remember the first time I gave an officer speech to my chapter. I can still remember how embarrassing it was. To see the progression from that moment to speaking on stage at the state convention in front of thousands of people. Now I feel like I can enter the industry I want and be successful all because of what FFA afforded me for five years.”

There is not much Parr did not do during his time in high school. His contest participation included chapter conducting, wool judging, cotton judging, wildlife, and job interview, but his favorite was extemporaneous speaking, which he did not start until his senior year of high school.

“I wish I could go back to my freshman, sophomore, and junior years and start that sooner. I think if I had more time, I would have been more successful than I already was, but that was something I didn’t realize I liked at the time. I’m not naturally somebody who likes to speak in public, but it was actually my favorite,” Parr said.

Parr won several awards during his time competing. In 2023 alone, Parr earned the Texas FFA Service-Learning Proficiency title, was a National FFA Service-Learning Proficiency finalist, and a Texas FFA Extemporaneous Speaking finalist. In addition to his CDE and LDE events during high school, he showed commercial steers at Houston, and boilers at most major shows, participated in the county show with projects in ag mechanics, showed goats from time to time, and showed heifers until graduation.

“FFA provides invaluable resources and knowledge to be successful once you leave high school and you are out of the blue jacket for the first time. I have been a part of a lot of great organizations over the years, and they are all great in their own way, but in my opinion, FFA is the most successful at producing members of society who want to go and do something with themselves,” Parr said.

He was halfway through his time as Area V Association President and attending the national convention when he began to ponder the idea of running for state office.

“This is around the time when you usually figure out if you want to go through and be a state officer or you decide that area officer is your last run. I was unsure of where I wanted to go, but I knew I didn’t want to be done with FFA. I decided maybe it would be a good opportunity not only for me to make more friendships and connections, but also to give back to the program that allowed me to be able to do what I can do today,” Parr explained.

To read more, pick up a copy of the May issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.

Farm & Ranch

Texas FFA State President Isaac Hawkins, Jr.

Published

3 days ago

May 1, 2024

NTFR

These young leaders share a drive to give back to the organization that has given to them as they work to support FFA members while preparing for a future in the agricultural industry.

From the 12 selected representatives, delegates elect a president and first vice president, with the remaining 10 serving as vice presidents from their respective area associations. The selection process consists of a popular vote by delegates at the state convention, which accounts for 40 percent of the decision, and a committee process that includes a written knowledge exam, worth 10 percent, and an interview, accounting for 50 percent. This year, after all was said and done, Hawkins was named this year’s Texas FFA President.

Hawkins grew up as part of a large, blended family with five sisters and three brothers. While he says he did not grow up in agriculture, his youth was spent outside fishing and doing all things outdoors with his father, whom he calls his best friend. As he entered Hirschi High School in Wichita Falls, Hawkins knew he wanted to be a vet but was unsure of what courses to take to set himself on that path.

“I signed up for ag principals just because they had animals in the description. The first day of class we talked about churning butter, and I went to my school counselor that same day and told her to change my schedule immediately, but she refused. She made me stay there,” Hawkins laughed. “Luckily, I had an incredible ag teacher, and she really helped me to fall in love with the program.”

To read more, pick up a copy of the May issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.