Owner of FraiseBec, Simon Charbonneau is in his 44e season in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines. A season that has taken the lead this year.
People are used to having strawberries on June 24, 1is July […] But the fact that it’s earlier this year, we have to publicize it, we have to talk about it so that people are there today.
With the good weather and less scorching temperatures, there is no shortage of customers.
The fields are red, red,
exclaims a picker for a day interviewed by Radio-Canada. We pick up a basket in half an hour
, adds his spouse.
The average strawberry consumption is 3.45 kg per year per person in the province. And the appetite is so great that barely 5% of the production is exported.
Effect on prices
This early start to the season and a risk of frost nevertheless caused some headaches for producers, who had to revise their supply schedule with major food retailers.
This year, we were played around a bit. It was very expensive at the beginning, then we had to lower our prices very quickly to be able to sell the stock which arrived very quickly.
, mentions Mr. Charbonneau.
With a production of around 15,000 tonnes per year, Quebec is the leading strawberry producing province in Canada. The sector, which has about 500 companies, generated $ 66 million in revenue in 2018, according to the Quebec Ministry of Agriculture.
With information from Louis de Belleval
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