The outdoor strawberry season is already underway in Germany thanks to high spring temperatures.
Growers’ co-op Landgard began harvesting soft fruit grown in plastic tunnels in the west of the country last weekend (28-29 April), with producers in the south beginning a few days before this.
Producers in eastern and northern Germany are expected to start imminently.
Landgard’s key account manager Rick Hensgens said: 'The warm days of mid-April have once again given the strawberry cultures a real boost and therefore compensated for the rather cold start to the spring.
“Right now it looks very good for the strawberry harvest this year and we expect good volume and quality.”
Under glass, where climatic conditions can be controlled more precisely, Landgard growers harvested their first strawberries of the season on 10 April.
More and more growers in Germany are switching to glasshouse production to allow for more reliable, less weather-dependant supply, and Landgard is supporting its members to transition from outdoor to glasshouse production.
With the soft fruit boom continuing in Germany, strawberries are now the fifth most popular fruit in the country behind apples, bananas, table grapes and peaches. Per capita consumption stands at around 3.5kg per year.
As in other sectors of the trade, sustainability is a major trend in German strawberry cultivation, with efforts to introduce more recyclable packaging, use fewer chemicals and introduce beneficial organisms, Landgard reported.
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