Strawberry season arrives early for some Manitoba growers

Chelsea Kemp · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 25, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Strawberry play is arriving a small earlier than accustomed successful Manitoba, with immoderate farms preparing to unfastened their fields to anxious pickers successful hunt of the archetypal sensation of summer.

At Lost Creek Acres, westbound of Portage la Prairie successful the agrarian municipality of North Norfolk, proprietor Jane Giesbrecht expects her U-pick fields to unfastened astir June 30 — somewhat up of schedule — but that depends on the upwind during what's been an unpredictable season. 

"Just program for each kinds of weather, particularly this summer," Giesbrecht said. "Today I'm successful a overgarment and chapeau and sweater, and time I mightiness beryllium successful shorts and a T-shirt. It's truthful hard to tell."

A blistery May helped strawberries turn rapidly earlier chill temperatures acceptable in, portion adust conditions person taken a toll connected the crop.

"We're decidedly seeing smaller effect this year, conscionable with the mode things person been a small spot drier," she said. "But inactive … a ton of flowers, a ton of effect retired there."

Cloudy skies and a deficiency of rainfall person slowed the ripening process, she says. The berries are forming good — but galore are inactive green.

If cooler temperatures continue, "then it'll beryllium a small spot longer," Giesbrecht said.

'Picking should beryllium good' contempt adust conditions: farmer

The adust conditions person besides enactment unit connected irrigation systems. Lost Creek Acres relies connected a dugout filled with outpouring runoff to powerfulness its irrigation system, but it's already astir empty.

"We've watered constantly," Giesbrecht said, adding that past year, the workplace didn't commencement watering until mid-July.

If the dugout dries up completely, they'll person to commencement hauling h2o to support the plants healthy. A bully rainfall would assistance ripen the berries and bulk them up earlier they're acceptable for picking, she says.

"They inactive sensation truly bully careless of the size, but it's conscionable nicer for picking if you tin get bigger berries," she said.

Andy Loewen, who runs Friedensfeld Honey & Berry Farm southeast of Steinbach, says his workplace has besides had to negociate its harvest cautiously done adust conditions, but overall, things are looking promising.

"We're disconnected to a small spot of a hard start, with not arsenic overmuch rainfall arsenic we would person liked," Loewen said.

His farm, which has astir 12 hectares of strawberries, has been relying connected irrigation.

"We consciousness precise optimistic," helium said. "I've done this for 20 years, and the effect acceptable and worldly I spot retired present … customers volition beryllium asking for much baskets erstwhile they spell retired successful the field, due to the fact that the picking should beryllium good."

'Cautiously optimistic'

In Winnipeg, section strawberries person already started hitting the shelves. Colin Rémillard of St-Léon Gardens told CBC's Radio Noon his Winnipeg marketplace and plot centre began selling section berries implicit the play — unusually aboriginal for Manitoba.

"This is 1 of the earliest we've seen from recollection," Rémillard said, which helium credits to the lukewarm outpouring causing plants to angiosperm earlier than usual.

"Last twelvemonth was a tremendous play — astir apt the champion I've seen since I started moving present successful 2009," helium said. "This twelvemonth volition beryllium pugnacious to bushed that, but truthful far, it's disconnected to a large start."

Angie Cormier, enforcement manager of the Prairie Fruit Growers Association, said portion immoderate farms that person aboriginal ripening strawberry varieties person been capable to unfastened up of schedule, most volition apt unfastened connected mean dates.

It's hard to accidental whether the play arsenic a full is genuinely early, she said.

"Everybody's ever cautiously optimistic, due to the fact that we cognize that a batch tin hap betwixt present and erstwhile picking starts ... oregon adjacent betwixt present and erstwhile the play ends," said Cormier, who besides runs Cormier's Berry Patch successful La Salle.

Most growers are expecting 3 to 4 weeks of picking, she said.

If July brings aggravated heat, aboriginal berries could ripen excessively quickly. Ideally, cooler nights and temperatures successful the mid-20s volition agelong retired the play and assistance the berries sweeten, said Cormier.

"The wide vibe retired determination close present is everybody is excited to get picking," she said.

Giesbrecht said at Lost Creek Acres, astir 1,000 baskets came disconnected the tract past twelvemonth — not including what was picked by friends and family.

"This is lone our 2nd twelvemonth having fruit," she said. "We're trying to tamper expectations a small spot … but hopefully it'll beryllium astir arsenic good."