Locally grown strawberries and peas could be missing from the Christmas dinner menu. North Canterbury grower Cam Booker said Christmas strawberries, raspberries and peas were in short supply, adding there would be no homegrown strawberries on the Booker Christmas dinner table this year.
‘‘It was cold and slow growing in the spring and now it’s hot and dry all of a sudden, but we were lucky to have missed the hail,’’ he said. ‘‘We’ve got no strawberries at the moment. The warm weather brought them on early and then the birds have eaten them all.’’
The Bookers grew strawberries all year and have won recognition in past Farmers’ Market Awards.
‘‘We don’t usually have a heap of strawberries at this time of the year anyway, as we are generally at the low end of the production curve, but normally once we have strawberries, we usually have them until June or July.’’
His next crop of strawberries was not due to ripen until late January or early February. Booker said peas ripening early appeared to be a common problem for growers in North Canterbury: ‘‘Only a month ago we were thinking they were going to be late, so that’s how quickly it’s changed.’’
Source: odt.co.nz
