NS Strawberry prices in flux as local growers, retailers deal with virus

HALIFAX – Rowena Power’s business relies on her relationship with local farmers and producers. That is why she was infuriated when she saw an ad outside her local Sobeys for inexpensive, imported strawberries. “I saw this giant sign that said ‘WOW! Strawberries, $1.25 a pound’ and then at the top it said “U-S” and I just thought, that’s not cool,” she says.

Power says she grew up on a fruit farm in the UK, in an area of that country that no longer grows fruit because of the lack of support for the local growers. She says Sobeys is an Atlantic Canadian company that should ‘know better.’

“It is the retailer’s fault for dangling this really, really, affordable carrot in front of the consumers,” she says of the imported berries. “If people continue to buy cheap, foreign imports, we will end up in an environment where you won’t be able to get a Nova Scotia strawberry even if you want to.”

At the Local Source Market on Charles Street in Halifax, locally grown berries sell for $6.95 per quart. Customers, however, don’t seem to mind paying the extra cash. “I think it’s important to shop local because essentially, it keeps our money local, it supports our local farmers,” says Daniel Ross. “So if I buy something from a local source, I know it’s going back into the community.”

But strawberry producers in Nova Scotia have been struggling after a blight, caused by a rare, hybrid virus, wiped out a large percentage of the early crop. Some would argue that the virus is all the more reason to support local growers, but it’s not that simple. Jason Cohanim, who manages the Local Source Market says it really comes down to a balance of scale and marketing and he doesn’t fault the major retailers for offering different prices for berries grown in other parts of the world.

“Sobeys has to do what’s good for Sobeys,” he says. “And they are operating on the scales where they can sort of play their own markets against each other. What I think is fair to producers and to the people growing and putting their time and their families and their lives and their heart and soul and their hands into this, I mean, you have to put value on that.”

Sobeys did speak to Global News about their strawberry buying policies, saying they have had to alter their purchasing because of the blight in order to fulfill demand for locally-sourced products.

In a written statement they say:

Working with about a dozen Maritime farmers, we have been purchasing all of the local strawberries we can. In fact, in a season that is only a couple of weeks old, Sobeys has already offered more than 40,000 quarts of local berries in our stores. We are paying farmers the asking price for their berries and as volume is picking up, we are able to offer reduced retail prices. Supporting local farmers has always been very important to Sobeys and our customers, but so is choice and having affordable options for all.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Sobeys in Halifax were starting to get larger shipments of local berries. They were putting them on display for $3.99 per quart.