As I was browsing the web this morning I came across this interesting study conducted in Watsonville, California. For those of you who do not know, Watsonville is one of the highest yielding berry regions in the United States. Watsonville is where companies like Driscolls have established headquarters.
The study was conducted over 2 years and involved 13 pairs of organic and conventional berries. Overall, the studies showed that organic strawberries had longer shelf life, higher antioxidant amounts, and higher level of vitamins C. However, the conventional berries had higher amounts of potassium and phosphorus both materials promote dietary function.
“Our findings show that the organic strawberry farms produced higher quality fruit and that their higher quality soils may have greater microbial functional capability and resilience to stress. These findings justify additional investigations aimed at detecting and quantifying such effects and their interactions.”
Furthermore, the organic fruit was found to be sweeter, contain higher soil nutrient levels, and be nicer in appearance. The organic strawberries were found to be smaller in size compared to the conventional, which is quite common.
We have found that the demand for organic products is growing each year and we have allocated more acreage to organic strawberry production this season. We are looking forward to the increase in organic production so be sure to look for it on your retailer’s produce section.