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Food Chain Radio Show #1206
Michael Olson, Author & Urban Farming Agriculturalist
Strawberry Industry
Guest: Mary Flodin, Author, Fruit of the Devil
Why do farm workers call the strawberry “fruit of the devil?”
To be a successful strawberry farmer, one had to stay one step ahead of all the critters and diseases that prey upon the plants and fruit.
Michael Olson Food Chain Radio – The Strawberry Industry and Fruit of the Devil
And so, strawberry farmers were itinerants who moved from place to place to place.
Then, in 1961, a soil fumigant called methyl bromide was registered as a pesticide. By injecting methyl bromide into the soil, farmers could kill all of the life within the soil, and thereby protect their strawberry plants.
Given the magic of methyl bromide, as well as other pesticides, strawberry farmers were able to settle down in the cool valleys of coastal California and build a multi-billion dollar a year industry.
Their strawberry billions now support a lot of communities and their people, including the many who cross the border to work in the strawberry fields. All the billions in strawberry bounty would seem to be cause for jubilation, and yet there is rumbling and grumbling. And so we pause to ask:
Leave a comment below: Why do farm workers call the strawberry “fruit of the devil?”
Nationally syndicated Food Chain Radio airs live Saturday mornings 9-10AM Pacific.
