Sunday, November 2, 2014

Record British strawberry season 'to last until December' By Dan Hyde

It is a record year for strawberries, with 150 million punnets already produced – and more than a month of picking still to go. Fruit farms will still be picking British strawberries in December for the first in history, after the long summer and mild autumn produced a record crop. The British Summer Fruits Association said "ideal" growing conditions had yielded sweet, plump fruits for longer than usual. Strawberries have benefited from high levels of sunshine, low humidity, warm temperatures and cooler nights, experts said. This year 98 in every 100 strawberries sold in Britain over the summer were grown in the UK. Strawberry farming had also been "transformed" by the use of glasshouses which were originally built for crops such as salads and flowers, Mr Olins said. The glasshouses provide a "controlled environment", allowing berries to benefit from constant temperatures and humidity throughout the entire. Mr Olins added: "We have produced the biggest crop of the nation’s favourite berry this year – the British strawberry is a remarkable success story." The Telegraph