When the media announced the end of the Polish strawberry season, I decided to get in the car and visit places where these fruits are still available. These are, for example, Warmia and Mazury, and even further to the north of Poland, i.e. Pomerania. And here a question arose in my head: is it better to have early strawberries or later ones? What is it like when part of the country is already saturated with these seasonal fruits? What about sales then?
Photo IP
The worst year for strawberry production?
Masovian plantations were already in red at the beginning of June. I saw it because I was traveling around Grójec. On each side of the road there are people between the rows of strawberries. From the car you could see fruit on the bushes. However, according to Mr. Kamil, who has a plantation near Płock, it was the worst year since he has been producing strawberries, i.e. for eight years. Depending on the variety, the 4 hectares it has can yield from 5 to 50 tons per season. This year, he says, no one from 4 ha will record record harvests. This is due to temperature fluctuations, but also to the lack of hands to work during the harvest. It is known that it is a demanding job. It would seem that smaller harvests will reward better prices. However, even here the growers do not talk about success. At the peak of the season in central Poland, strawberries for industrial purposes cost on average PLN 2.80/kg and on the stock exchange just over PLN 10/kg. The owners of plantations that grow so-called repeating varieties, i.e. those that bear fruit in mid-July and later in October, still have hope for some losses, says Mr. Kamil. However, this will also depend on the weather and market saturation. Therefore, it is difficult to answer the question whether it is better to have early or later varieties. At the end of May, the price of a kilogram of strawberries on the streets of Warsaw was PLN 12, in Olsztyn it was about PLN 20. This changes as the season progresses. Now that we can say that the strawberry season is actually behind us, there are places where we can still taste this year's harvest.
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Growers block the processing plant. Purchase prices for strawberries do not cover production costs
Early strawberry harvest
Since I'm from Olsztyn, I'm closest to what's in Warmia. I went to a plantation near Lidzbark Warmiński, to producers who have been showing what they do on social media for several years. Optimistic, without complaining that they have to get up in the middle of the night because the harvest starts at 4 a.m. There are no problems or prices. On the Internet they show winter in the fields, spring, how the bushes bloom and how they bear the first fruits. All this is an invitation to buy strawberries almost straight from the bush. The farm called Owoce Jagodowe belongs to Marta and Mariusz Gierulski. The entire plantation is 4 ha. There are, among others: raspberries, blueberries and strawberries on 2 hectares.
As Mariusz Gierulski says – They used to occupy the entire area, but it was difficult to find workers to pick the fruit, and low prices in shopping centers and problems with people to work with the harvest made us give up large-scale production. The Gierulski family focused on dessert varieties. This year's harvest, although it started on average 2 weeks earlier, should last until mid-July. Late varieties are just blooming. The harvest is smaller, on average 14 tons per season, but they bypass intermediaries and sell what they harvest directly to the residents of nearby towns.
photo: IP
Year-round strawberry – freeze-dried
However, in the Ecological Horticultural Farm in Frygnów in Masuria, the plantation covers only 25 ares. Once upon a time, all strawberries were sent from here for direct sale. Now almost all of them are processed on site and then sold at the market in Tomaszków near Dolsztyn, but also sent directly to customers throughout Poland. Joanna and Sebastian Walkiewicz want us to be able to taste their fruit all year round, or even for 25 years. Freeze-dried strawberries can be eaten for a quarter of a century if they are properly dried, packaged and stored. A special machine first freezes the fruit to -40 degrees Celsius – says Mrs. Joanna – then the water is evaporated from them in a vacuum. Strawberries dried in this way are crispy like chips, they do not lose their structure, smell, taste and nutritional value, i.e., for example, vitamin C does not oxidize from them. Their moisture level is only 2-3%, while in normal drying it is ok .10%. Such strawberries can be a snack, an addition to yogurt, muesli or oatmeal. Powdered, they are used as an addition to honey and cakes. The entire production from the field to the customer is in the hands of the farmers.
photo IP
Does this mean that in the future, due to low prices of these fruits, the work needed to grow and then harvest them, and difficult weather conditions that do not guarantee satisfactory yields, large plantations will disappear? Probably not, because strawberries are still one of our most important exports. According to KOWR data: Poland is the world's leading exporter of frozen strawberries. In the years 2014–2022, 74–123 thousand tons were exported from Poland annually. tons of frozen strawberries, which accounted for 40-60% of the share in the national strawberry harvest. In Poland, strawberry production is carried out mainly on smaller family farms, with an area of 1 to 10 ha.
photo: IP
Word of mouth marketing in the sale of strawberries
Sławomir Żabiński from Starogard Gdański, i.e. from Kociewie, which borders on Kashubia, has been growing strawberries for over 20 years. The plantation was never larger than half a hectare, because crop rotation is necessary on a four-hectare farm. Mr. Sławomir assesses this year as exceptionally poor – It is not known whether it is the fault of the weather or the new varieties. Maybe I didn't take care of them well in the fall, he says. The grower recalls a record year – in 2017, I harvested 5 tons from 35 ares. This year it's not even a ton from 20 ares.
Iwona Pacholska and Mariusz Gierulski photo: IP
Strawberries grow on agrotextile, which replaces straw, and is dark, so the soil in the plantation warms up faster, the fruit ripens faster, weeds grow less, and, most importantly, the soil retains moisture better. Sławomir Żabiński focuses on retail sales. Over the years, he has made a name for himself among local residents, who advertise his plantation to their friends. Word of mouth marketing works because most of the fruit is sold directly from the farm and only some goes to a nearby market. Here, at the end of the season, strawberries cost: those for jams, smaller ones – PLN 12/kg, and larger ones – PLN 14/kg. Now the so-called self-harvesting is taking place, i.e. whoever wants to come and harvest what is still in the field. He pays PLN 10/kg for what he collects. According to Mr. Sławomir, later varieties are better because there is less risk of freezing, and besides, if the fruit manages to protect itself from frost, it goes to the market, except in high season in Poland, when prices are the lowest. And it is more profitable.
The most popular strawberry varieties
There are approximately 50 varieties of strawberries registered in Poland, characterized by, among others: different fruiting dates. According to KOWR data, popular early varieties that bear fruit already in May include: "Kama", "Kent", "Honeoye". Among the varieties that bear fruit at the turn of June and July are "Senga Sengana", "Elkat", "Onebor". Popular late varieties include 'Pandora' and 'Bogota'.
