From the Fields - Greg France

By Greg France, Santa Barbara County strawberry grower

Everything is planted. We’re doing some weeding and pest control. Otherwise, we’re watching the strawberries grow and letting the rain fall on them.

There’s an October or November planting, and the summer planting is usually in May or June. Then we harvest from mid-March and go all the way into December. We harvest strawberries twice a week for six or seven months.

The crop we recently harvested had a shorter growing season because the planting was delayed by cold weather last year. Yields were down. Pricing was OK. We have seen an increase in costs across the board. Our margins have been tremendously squeezed, if there’s any margin at all.

We’ve identified two main drivers of our cost increases. One is labor—not only the increase in California’s minimum wage but also the Adverse Effect Wage Rate for the H-2A program. About 18% of our workers are from the H-2A program. We have used the program for several years.

This past year was probably our best year being able to recruit workers domestically. There were more workers available than in other years.

The other major driver of our increased costs was any product made from petroleum. We use drip tape, plastic that goes over our strawberries and fuel for our hauling trucks and tractors.

Another challenge has been pest control. They keep reducing the number of materials we’re allowed to use. We can’t use methyl bromide anymore and that hurts. The fumigants we do have are not as effective. There are more pests and soil-borne diseases now. Every year, we lose probably 15% to 20% of our crop.

As a farmer, we’re always hopeful. We’re hopeful we can get a fair and honest price for our products and receive a decent margin this year.