🍓 What a Bad Weather Week Does to a Strawberry Farm
When you visit a strawberry farm on a sunny spring day, everything looks simple and sweet. Bright red berries, smiling families, warm sunshine — it feels effortless.
But behind the scenes, one bad week of weather can change everything.
Strawberries are beautiful — and incredibly delicate. A few days of steady rain, an unexpected late frost, or even several cloudy afternoons can dramatically affect the crop. What looks like a peaceful field is actually months of careful preparation balanced on the edge of the forecast. For farmers, every weather report during the season carries real weight, because nature ultimately decides how much ends up in your bucket. Sometimes the difference between a great season and a difficult one comes down to just a few nights of temperatures dipping too low or a stretch of rain that won’t let up. That uncertainty is part of farming — planning carefully, working diligently, and then trusting the weather to cooperate. And when it does, every ripe berry feels like a small victory worth celebrating.
🌧 Too Much Rain
Strawberries sit low to the ground, and when heavy rain hits:
- Berries can split from excess moisture
- Fruit can rot quickly
- Mud splashes onto ripe berries
- Fungal diseases spread fast
Just a few days of steady rain during peak season can wipe out large portions of ripe fruit. And once strawberries begin to rot, they can’t be saved.
❄ Late Frost
A cold snap during bloom is one of the biggest risks.
Each white flower you see in the field is a future strawberry. If frost damages that blossom, it won’t produce fruit.
That means:
- Fewer berries
- Smaller harvests
- Shorter picking season
Sometimes the damage isn’t visible until weeks later when berries are misshapen or fail to develop fully.
☁ Cloudy Days = Less Sweetness
Strawberries develop their sugars in the final days before harvest.
Several cloudy, cool days in a row can:
- Slow ripening
- Reduce sweetness
- Delay opening day
Sunlight truly makes a difference in flavor.
🌬 Wind & Storm Damage
Strong winds can:
- Break blossoms
- Stress plants
- Tear row covers used for frost protection
Severe storms can flatten plants or flood low areas of a field.
💰 The Financial Reality
Strawberries are planted months before harvest. By the time bad weather hits, the investment has already been made:
- Plants
- Plastic mulch
- Irrigation
- Labor
- Fertilizer
- Equipment
A single bad weather week can mean:
- Lost revenue
- Increased labor removing damaged fruit
- Fewer berries available for customers
Farming is always a balance between preparation and unpredictability.
❤️ Why We Keep Going
Even with the risks, we plant every year.
Because when the weather cooperates, there’s nothing better than seeing families walk through the rows with buckets full of fresh strawberries.
Farming teaches patience, resilience, and gratitude for the good days.
And when you pick strawberries after a stretch of beautiful sunshine, you’re tasting more than fruit — you’re tasting relief, hard work, and a little bit of answered prayer.