Frank Oakes’ Southwest Florida strawberry farming operation nestles against the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. It’s a protected wetland near Naples that, he eagerly points out, is full of bumblebees and other beneficial insects.
That’s especially important to Oakes. His VertiGrow system, featuring 20 plants on stakes 5 feet apart using drip and gravity irrigation, is all organic. The system, which uses coconut shells and Styrofoam pebbles to keep roots damp in soil, allows him to grow an acre of berries in a fifth of the space. And it makes Oakes, who became “militant about organics” in 1994, part of a tiny but steadily growing segment of Florida growers eager to meet the increasing demand.
“The key to how I’m able to be successful is so many people are into buying local and buying fresh,” Oakes says, whose berries are picked in the morning and sold at his own retail stores that same day. “My customers want that berry to be dead red. A fully ripe berry is a different animal.”
Burgeoning growth
Statistics from the Greenfield, Mass.-based Organic Trade Association illustrate consumers’ growing interest. While non-organic products grew 2 percent to 4 percent during the past decade, organic products enjoyed double-digit growth, according to Laura Batcha, director of marketing and public relations for the association.
Batcha says figures from the Smith Center, Kan.-based Nutrition Marketing Institute show that more consumers are choosing organic. Core users increased from 16 percent in 2006 to 18 percent in 2007, and more than half of U.S adults purchase organics occasionally.
“Although there is no one general profile for organic consumers, they tend to be more educated or have a broader worldview that centers on values,” Batcha says. “Core organic shoppers see a connection between the environment and agricultural practices.”
Oakes saw that connection after growing conventionally in Florida since 1974. His son and a business partner also were farming conventionally when the partner sprayed cucumbers with a well-known foliar spray without wearing a protective mask. The partner wound up in a coma, and he still suffers from disabilities today.
That experience, as well as his wife’s contraction of an endocrine abnormality called Addison’s Disease, made him more attuned to environmental concerns and led him to switch his production methods.
He eschews methyl bromide as a soil fumigant and opts for hydrogen peroxide and grapefruit seed extract. He says that combination, as well as planting late—he doesn’t plant until mid-October as opposed to the August and September planting timeline of conventional growers—has helped him avoid botrytis and makes fungus and spore count non-factors.
“The closer we can get to how nature intended us to grow, the less disease and insect pressure we’ll have,” he says. “(My strawberries) go to the store and are sold to the consumer and eaten the same day.”
That speed from field to market also means diseases such as anthracnose and gray mold don’t have time to surface. Oakes’ berries go for $3 per pound and $36 per flat and, since he sells directly from his Oakes Farm Markets stores, he cuts out the middleman.
“Of the average dollar spent at a supermarket, 23 cents gets back to the farmer,” Oakes says. “This keeps us busy, and I’m getting the whole enchilada.”
Costs cut profitability
Oakes’ success, however, may be an aberration.
Robert Verloop, vice president of marketing for Naples-based Naturipe Farms LLC, lauded the efforts of those like Oakes but was cautious. Naturipe’s organic strawberry production in Florida is extremely limited because of costs faced by commercial growers.
“I thinks some of these pioneers are very important,” he says. “We’ve learned a lot from them. You can have a lot of stories of individual success, but the world gets fed by commercial agriculture so you have to keep that in perspective.”
Although no specific figures are kept because of mixed crops, Florida ranks second behind California in overall organic strawberry production. Natalia Peres, a plant pathologist with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, evaluates new cultivars for disease resistance. She says Florida’s environmental conditions make organic production a difficult proposition.
Florida’s 8,000 acres devoted to strawberry production include only a small percentage for organics, a statistic that is unlikely to change and bring it closer to California.
“They have a much better situation because they’re much dryer than the humidity we have here,” she says. “I think in Florida, we’d need to go with some sort of protection from the rain and freezes but then the problem is the cost of the structures. Right now, I don’t think our growers are willing to invest that much.”
The majority of Naturipe’s organic strawberry acreage is in California, which offers better soil and much less humidity. Verloop says overall growth continues to be robust, but it has been difficult for growers to make a profit.
“Growers see the marketing opportunity and they’ll have the courage to shift into organic production,” he says. “There’s no question there’s the demand out there. It’s a matter of will the price offset the cost that growers face?”
Trying to find answers
Grower Gary Wishnatzki has been struggling with that issue since 2003. As president and chief executive officer of Plant City-based Wishnatzki Farms, he has shepherded his operation as it became certified organic in 2005.
He grows nine outside acres and five under plastic in a soilless medium or, as he terms it, “semi-hydroponically.” Wishnatzki distributes to chain grocery stores and can’t meet its growing demand.
No two crops have looked the same, he says, but he remains patient. Production costs are twice as much per acre as conventional farming, according to Wishnatzki officials, and infrastructure costs are difficult to determine because so much trial-and-error results in obsolete equipment from year to year.
“Every year we try some new things but we haven’t found the silver bullet yet,” he says. “If we can figure out how to do this and do it economically, we’ll do it.”
High market prices, small yields and extremely high costs may make it price- prohibitive for consumers, he adds. Once production costs are reduced, Wishnatzki may expand. Of the 3 million packages handled annually by the company, only 50,000 are organic.
“One of the challenges is for us to get our costs down so we can do this on a larger scale and provide a product the average consumer can afford,” he says. “We do have to figure this out in the next couple of years. The product does have a strategic value for our company, but at the same time we have to start making money at it.”
Allen Williford, co-owner of Clear Choice Greenhouses LLC and Wishnatzki’s partner in its organic efforts, is equally focused on becoming profitable. Williford’s experience in a North Carolina nursery growing strawberry plug plants—those culled and grown from tips—makes him well-qualified to manage Wishnatzki’s soilless cultures. He employs a hanging gutter system and uses a mix of organic compounds to grow the berries. He says cooler weather can hurt the crop and termed it “a work in progress.”
“We feel like every year we’re getting closer,” he says. “We’re still in research trying to make this thing work.”
Part of that research involves experimenting with varieties developed by UF/IFAS. They include Florida Radiance, a variety that has shown promise for early production both outside and under cover during the past three years. It has good-sized fruit, Williford says, who also is working with the Florida Elyana variety. It has a rich flavor but can’t tolerate rain so it must be grown under cover, he says.
Craig Chandler, a professor of horticultural science at the university and a breeder, calls Williford a visionary and agrees that Elyana, while resistant to anthracnose, doesn’t do well when wet.
“The skin of the fruit tends to crack when it gets rained on so we’re not recommending it for open-field production,” he says.
Finding more solutions
To Marty Mesh, executive director of Gainesville-based non-profit Florida Certified Organic Growers and Consumers Inc., any investment in sustainable agriculture is well worth it. He says educating growers, consumers and policymakers about such issues is crucial as organics become more relevant in federal farm policy.
He says Florida Certified Organic Growers and Consumers should work more closely with IFAS to get the word out about new varieties.
Similar to its current EPA-funded Operation Transition to help farmers switch from pesticides to other methods of pest control, IFAS and the organization could partner to offer workshops on effective growing techniques for what is the fastest growing segment of agriculture.
“Organic strawberries for us is a triple win,” Mesh says. “We believe strawberries organically are good for the environment, for the surface-to-ground water and for the people eating the strawberries and the farmer and farm worker.”
Keeping the big picture in mind and understanding how soil, water and conditions affect growth is a big part of that, Mesh says.
“If we have a weed problem, we might say well, that could be because of your pH, whereas conventional farming might say ‘let’s get some Roundup,’” he says. “Organic is based on more of the whole ecosystem.”
Mesh’s comment is mirrored by Oakes, who previously served as the organization’s president for three years. Oakes is busy with his organic okra and sweet potato crops during the summer, but soon he’ll be planting strawberries again. The result, once on shelves, is more than flavor, he stresses.
“There’s such a huge difference in mineral content,” Oakes says. “Conventional food is so low in mineral content, you’re as well off eating your newspaper.”
Oakes’ admittedly biased viewpoint is backed by more than 40 studies comparing organic and conventionally grown produce. The most recent report, 2008’s “New Evidence Confirms the Nutritional Superiority of Plant-Based Organic Foods,” was the result of a two-year project examining the issue.
