UK | The warmest Spring start in 100 years has led to a bumper crop of British strawberries.
The heatwave brought strawberry production forward by around two weeks and has left many UK growers with a surplus of fruit.
Tesco has now stepped in to help growers by taking extra stock, and the good news for shoppers is that the strawberries will go on sale for almost half price, with the price drop in time for the half-term holidays next week.
“Nothing shouts that summer is on the way louder than the availability of large, lush, sweet British strawberries – and even better if they’re being sold for cheaper,” said Tesco Berries Buying Manager Callum Baker.
“The fantastic UK weather recently has brought on the strawberries faster than expected, with growers reporting that the extra hours of sunshine have made the fruit larger and sweeter than usual for this time of year.”
Baker said that as soon as Tesco heard about the glut, it swung into action to help out British growers and prevent any strawberries from going to waste on farms.
“With the extra amount of strawberries coming through right now, we expect to sell about 25 percent more crop this year than last.”
The Met Office has reported that last month was the warmest April since records began 100 years ago, with much of the UK experiencing temperatures 3 to 5 °C warmer than is normal for April.
One grower supported by Tesco is F.W. Mansfield of Chartham, near Canterbury in Kent.
“The sudden growth spurt has taken many growers by surprise and couldn’t have been more different to last Spring when we experienced a much colder and wetter start to the fruit growing season,” said Mansfields’ Commercial Operations Manager, Dave Slaughter.
“The combination of far longer than usual sunshine, together with the extra hours of sunlight in the last few weeks, has resulted in a fine crop this year. With the predicted cooler weather and rain in the next week, adding to the great sunshine we’ve had already, it looks like we will have a really good quality crop this year.”
The extra sunshine contributed to bumper strawberry crops right across Britain, including Kent, East and West Sussex, Berkshire, Wales, Norfolk, Herefordshire, and Scotland.
The 400g punnets of strawberries will go on sale at more than 750 Tesco stores.
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