Growing food closer to home

Our food supple chain is breaking down because of the ongoing pressure of covid-19. Before the coronavirus we bought strawberries from California or from Mexico and thought nothing of it. Now, I see those berries with a new and growing appreciation of the complex delivery system that put those berries on my table.

It is mid May and the berries shown have been available since late April in a specialty grocery store in my neighbourhood. What is unique about these berries? Note where these berries are grown: Canada. These are locally grown, greenhouse berries. Despite the snow on the ground, there are locally grown berries on the store shelves.

When I was a boy strawberries were available for about three, maybe four, weeks in late spring. And that was it. When those weeks were gone, strawberries were gone. Not so today. There are now varieties of strawberries called ever-bearing that produce three or more crops annually.  Locally grown field berries are now available from late spring until very early fall.

Thanks to hothouse berries, the growing season is expanding again. Soon, it should be possible to eat locally grown strawberries from April through to early November. And if folk can be persuaded to eat frozen berries at other times, imported fresh berries may become a fading memory or a very expensive, hard-to-find treat.