Strawberry Lovers Rejoicing UK Cool Spell
May 03, 2012; 5:45 AM
Strawberry growers are forecasting a record harvest of berries this year, following a favorable turn in the weather last month.
Although a warm March had growers worried about crop prospects, April's significant cool brought optimism as to the yield prospects, the U.K.'s Telegraph website said on Wednesday.
Fear had been that the warm weather of March would damage the crop.
Strawberry growers have lifted their production outlook to 56,000 metric tons, well up from 52,000 tons harvested in 2011.
The March warmth and succeeding cool month of April will "combine to deliver sweet and flavorful berries," Laurence Olins, a fruit growers trade body representative, said in the Telegraph report.
March temperatures across England were above to much above normal, climate records accessed by AccuWeather.com showed. April readings cooled to near to moderately below normal.
As for the record wet of April, the use of new growing methods, including "polytunnels," means that the crop would have been safeguarded from the heavy rain.
Only 20 years ago, the summer strawberry crop "would have been decimated" by the kind of wet weather seen this April, Olins said.