A fungus is threatening strawberries along the east coast, and it’s keeping some farmers from even planting this fall. Neopestalotiopsis, which first appeared several years ago in Florida, can cause light to dark brown spots on plant leaves and rotting of the fruit. Brent Jones is a strawberry farmer in Forsyth County, North Carolina.
“We got a call from our supplier saying that they were infected, and they advised us to not plant. We plant roughly around 12,000 plants per acre, and we grow three acres per year. We had 36,000 plants ordered.”
Jones tells WGHP he just couldn’t take the chance.
“This is solely what we grow strawberries. The risks outweigh the benefit, right? There was a significant risk of, you know, a total crop failure. And so it is going to be a significant impact to the industry, you know, to the economy of North Carolina as a whole.”
North Carolina Cooperative Extension Agent Bill Foote says the disease is not just confined to the east coast now.
“It’s global too. So even Mexico is trying to buy plants now.”
Farmers like Jones will try to compensate for the loss of revenue as best they can.
“We also run a corn maze that doesn’t nearly produce the volume of customers as our strawberry field does, but it does help offset the loss.”
Meanwhile, Foote warns consumers to be ready when they go to the grocery store next year.
“You might see some higher prices. I don’t want to scare people off, and I always encourage them to buy local.”
Image courtesy Bill Cline, NC Cooperative Extension Service