Consumers excited for start of Strawberry season

Tomorrow is the June Bank Holiday Monday and the taste buds of consumers are being tickled countrywide by the new season of fresh Irish strawberries.

The ‘Celebrate Strawberry Season’ campaign, organised by Bord Bia, the Irish Soft Fruit Growers Association and the Irish Farmers Association, is underway.

It celebrates the arrival of the much-loved strawberry and encourages consumers to consider them as a healthy snack option.

Strawberries are low in calories and sugar, which makes them the ideal healthy alternative snack for consumers of all ages.

An 80g portion of strawberries contains 80% of a person’s daily vitamin C requirement, according to the experts.

Bord Bia healthy eating executive Elizabeth Finnegan said locally grown strawberries are versatile and naturally sweet.

They are delicious to have with breakfast, as a healthy topping for a lunch salad and are perfect for picnics, smoothies and snacking when people are on the go all summer long, she said.

A diet rich in berries has been linked to boosting levels of good cholesterol and improving blood pressure.

Ireland has a long association with the fruit, which was first grown here over 260 years ago on the Strawberry Beds Road on the banks of the River Liffey.

Today, the main growing areas are in Dublin, Wexford, Meath, and Kildare, and several summer festivals promote the fruit.

More than 1,000 people are now employed in the industry, and total retail market for strawberries is now valued at €91m annually. But this figure exceeds €100m when road side sales are included.

As part of the current promotional campaign, local growers will place ‘Celebrate Strawberry Season’ labels on retail packs up to June 13.

Bord Bia’s fresh produce manager Lorcan Bourke said strawberries are synonymous with the taste of summer for many people, but they are widely available from May to November.

“Growers have reported an excellent growing season this year with plenty of delicious strawberries available to the market, which is good news for consumers,” said Mr Bourke.

The strawberry sector has invested significantly over recent years in a bid to improve the quality and consistency of output.

Traditionally, Irish strawberries production were centered on field based production with harvesting concentrated in the traditional June-July period.

While production still peaks in summer, Irish growers have made significant efforts on their farms to extend the season.

Irish Farmers Association president Joe Healy has called on consumers and retailers to support the Irish strawberry sector - a vital indigenous industry worth €47m at farm gate, with 57 growers expected to produce over 8,000 tonnes this year But it is not all sweetness and joy for those involed in the sector as the IFA Soft Fruit Growers chairman Jimmy Kearns explained.

“Growers have been hit by increased input costs across the business,” said Mr Kearns. “These increases are not reflected in the farm gate price that growers receive, resulting in lower margins.

“Labour accounts for over 50% of the input costs in the soft fruit industry. These costs have increased successively for the last number of years.”

Mr Kearns said the introduction of worker permits for employees outside the European Economic Area was welcome but the system must be more streamlined and user-friendly for applicants.

He reminded consumers that Irish strawberry growers adhere to voluntary quality assurance schemes, which ensure the highest standards on traceability, food hygiene, worker rights, and sustainability.

However, this compliance also creates an increasing

financial burden upon primary producers, which is not recognised by retailers.

“Sales of fruit continue to increase in volume as consumers are buying more quantity per trip, but it is critical that strawberries are treated as a premium product and that growers receive a fair return,” said Mr Kearns.

The IFA stresses that buying Irish strawberries means that, as well as supporting a locally grown product and local industry, consumers also benefit from the nutritional and health benefits of the fruit.

However, it warned that a number of road side traders are selling imported strawberries as Irish. It urged consumers to check for country of origin when buying fruit and to support Irish production.

A consumption growth in the 35- to 44-year-old category some years ago was seen as important because people in that age bracket often tend to have children, which sets the industry up well for the future.

A 2015 Bord Bia survey noted that multiple retail outlets account for 50% of fresh strawberry sales in Ireland. Roadside stalls and farmgate sales (35%) and greengrocers (15%) are the other outlets.

Irish strawberries are normally produced for the local market, with producer groups successfully exporting to Britain when supply exceeds demand on the domestic market.

And while fresh market production is centred along the east coast, the study found potential for development around large towns countrywide.

But it is not just the Irish who have a taste for strawberries which are believed to have been first grown in pre-historic times.

The ancient Romans used them as cures for fever, bad breath, gout, sore throats, depression, fainting and blood diseases. Fresh strawberries were once used as toothpaste, as the juice cleaned discolored teeth.

Eight strawberries contain more Vitamin C than a medium-sized orange. The biggest one recorded weighed 230g – the size of a large apple.

Every year about 27,000 kilos of strawberries are eaten during the Wimbledon tennis championships together with 7,000 litres of cream.

Bloom garden and food festival, which concludes in Dublin today, is another high profile sales outlet for the fruit.

Last year, three quarters of a tonne of strawberries were eaten in Bord Bia’s polytunnel and kids’ zone at the five-day showpiece.