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Quebec is the country’s top strawberry-producing province and the third-largest growing region in the United States and Canada, after California and Florida, says Jasmine Sauvé, the executive director of the Association des producteurs de fraises et framboises du Québec. Some 330 producers cultivate strawberries and raspberries on roughly 1,900 hectares of farmland. As demand for strawberries has increased, so has the amount of acreage and number of greenhouses and soilless cultivation systems.

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In Quebec, the strawberry market is mainly local. Though there are imports, most growers sell exclusively in the province, with some exporting small amounts to Ontario, New York and Vermont. Now at its peak, in May, grocery stores were stocked with greenhouse-grown strawberries from Quebec and Ontario, and imports from California, Florida and Mexico, which are generally sold at lower prices than the first local field strawberries, which arrived in the first two weeks of June.

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“Those are really premium prices because it (takes) premium production techniques to be able to produce strawberries very early in the season. And now, the prices have gone down,” says Sauvé.

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The producers’ association tracks berry prices in the province. There, prices have stayed stable, adds Sauvé. “What we’re seeing is the profit margins are decreasing because the prices are staying about the same, but the production cost has risen a lot. And every year, the production cost increases, so the margins are not as good for the strawberry growers, but the prices are similar to last year.”

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She highlights that supermarket prices aren’t necessarily representative of what growers are paid, and that agricultural producers don’t directly benefit from rising food prices. Retailers “will decide the margin they want to have, and the price they sell.”

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Strawberries are a special product — especially in Quebec, says Sauvé. “People want strawberries that come from Quebec, and usually are willing to pay a premium price. I’m not saying, like, if they were sold for $15 a basket, but people are expecting, and they agree to pay a little bit more for strawberries from Quebec than strawberries from California or Mexico.”

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Charlebois highlights that there’s typically no contest between imported and domestically grown berries when it comes to taste. “People tend to appreciate local strawberries, which tend to be a bit juicier, especially at the tail end of (the season), depending on the weather. If you basically have had a lot of sun at the end, you’ll see smaller strawberries, but they’re so tasty.”

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Growers understand that the cost of food is rising, says Sauvé, adding that the association is advocating for reciprocity in standards. “What we ask is that the government refuses to import fruits that are produced with chemicals or labour norms that are not the same as ours. But we’re not asking the consumer to pay a certain price,” she says. “(Growers) want to continue to excel and produce strawberries that are available at the best price that they can, but what they would like is fair competition.”

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Sauvé and Charlebois expect stable strawberry prices for the rest of the summer, and the Agri-Food Analytics Lab suggests shoppers look for $3.99-$4.99 promotions in July.

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With blueberry season around the corner, Charlebois’s biggest concern is the El Niño summer, which tends to be dry and could impact harvest and productivity, resulting in fewer and smaller berries. “That’s really one of the challenges that I think the blueberry sector will face, including the one here in Nova Scotia.”

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