Strawberry farmers across the state, including one in Livingston Parish, are assessing the damage done by last week’s arctic blast. Rachael Harris, the owner of Harris Strawberry Farm in Springfield, says they took proactive measures in advance of the storm, like covering them with cloth. But that only went so far.
“We did lose about 80% of our crop. Not the plant, but the berries and the blooms that were all on the vine. But the snow actually made insulation for the plants and protected them,” Harris said.
Harris says that’s going to set them back about three weeks. They’ll miss out on Valentine’s Day, but they will be ready for Easter and the Strawberry Festival. She says while they will recover, it will still cost the business some money.
“We have to pay for the labor to pick the bad berries and throw those berries away, compared to paying for the labor to pick good berries,” Harris said.
Harris says this is the second year in a row that strawberry farmers have had to deal with a setback.
“Last year we had a disease called Pestalotia. The plants that the farmers bought came with the disease. It even put some of the farmers out of business,” Harris explained.
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