KSBY

Posted: Apr 1, 2010 8:31 PM
Updated: Apr 2, 2010 4:13 PM

The song says Christmas time is the most wonderful time of the year.   Strawberry lovers may argue that.  We're heading into the best season for the pretty red fruit.   And we're living in one of the best areas to find the best berries anywhere.    It's yet another reason there's no place like home:

Strawberries have long been a cash crop for Santa Maria and California. But in recent years, the berry has enjoyed a surge in popularity.   "Santa Maria, with it's ideal weather, we probably have the best weather for strawberries, because the highs and lows of Santa maria are so close together." says Daren Gee.  He's been in the strawberry business for 26 years and some 5-million boxes of berries come out of his farms each year.

Gee says Watsonville, California gets a lot of credit for the strawberry's high profile of late. Farmers there mastered the marketing of the crop, and now people all over the world want them. Santa Maria has risen to the challenge Watsonville created.   "But we're fast taking them over." says Gee.

Plant breeders out of UC Davis developed a new breed of berry that extended its growing season, and now you can find sweet strawberries all over the world, almost all year long.  Gee says today, Santa Maria has about 8000 acres of strawberries.  "Well we're literally scanning the whole United States, Canada, we're going into Mexico more and more and the last couple of years we've been going into Europe, mainly into Paris.  And then they're re-routing them into Italy, Germany."

Taffy Duran drove from San Luis Obispo to pick up a fresh batch for her church, Calvary, SLO Church.  "They're the best!" she answers immediately when Jeanette asks why she makes the drive. "Especially at the beginning of the season, they have awesome flavor. And so they work perfectly for the strawberry lemonade we serve on Sunday's for Easter service. "

 They're always good, but all that rain we got this winter is making this year's crop one of the best. The rains were able to flush out a lot of the salts that at built up in the soil during the previous drought years. So Darren is anticipating a great crop and a busy next few months.

His operation is putting out about 25-thousand boxes of berries a day now, but come May, it's be more like 300-thousand. And that means a round the clock rush from ground to grocery store.  "What we've found is the faster you get it from the field, to here, to the truck, the more shelf life you're going to have for the guy on the other side." Gee says as he pats a flat of berries headed for Costco.  "Believe it or not, hours can mean days on that end."

Most of the major shippers work out of Santa Maria now, and growers from other areas are migrating this way. Gee believes the trend will continue. Which means good news for the Santa Maria economy.   And great news for those of us who have these sweet treats growing right in our own backyard. Another reason, there's no place like home.