FD Berries USA is currently harvesting strawberries on its farm in Sebring, Florida at a time of high demand. The agricultural company began operations in April, 2018 in Mexico with 50 hectares of blueberries and since then has expanded into Florida. 

To learn more, Selina Wamucii spoke to Andrew Pidgeon, Director of Marketing at Fibredust, whose subsidiary is FD Berries.

Andrew Pidgeon initiates by detailing the approximate capacity of strawberries that will make the market this holiday season.

“FD Berries USA is a farm of 200 acres in Sebring FL. We currently harvest 4-5 times per week Florida varieties of strawberries.  Although it is early in the season we are  harvesting 50-100 flats per pick per acre.  A successful harvest would be 3000 8lb flats per acre or about 24000lb per acre.”

While the main U.S. strawberry season runs from April to July, the Gulf States’ season runs from November through April.  For this reason, FD Berries must be coping with huge demand?

“The Florida strawberry season runs from Thanksgiving to Easter typically.” Advises Andrew. “The reason behind this particular time window? Strawberries love Florida’s mild, cool winters. They can’t thrive in the harsh winter weather further north and Florida’s weather outside of that window is much too hot. This availability prior to the Northern US states, make Florida grown highly sought after.  FD Berries is located in Florida for this very reason.  We have big expansion plans for our strawberries.  Florida is a great location for us and this initial harvest shows we made the right decision. “ 

What varieties of strawberries can customers expect this season?

“Brilliance and Sensation. Also in R&D we have Albion, UC Davis varieties, and Berry World,” expands Andrew.

Blackberries and Raspberries, too

The Sebring farm also, apparently, expects its blueberries and raspberries crop late winter 2024.

“In Sebring,” helps Andrew, “we anticipate harvesting blueberries in Feb.  As we expand, we will be bringing in raspberries and blackberries as we do in Mexico with FD Berries MX.” 

And does FD Berries grow berries via organic means or in greenhouses?

“The strawberries are a combination of tabletop and on the ground both grown in substrate from Fibredust LLC.  Fibredust is one of the largest manufactures of coconut coir and globally ships over 2,500 containers to some of the largest growers and soil mixers.  The substrate is OMRI listed for organic use. In FL we utilize hoop houses though a greenhouse is in the works for the location.”  

North American Expansion

Talking of plans, FD Berries USA is also apparently targeting expansion plans outside the United States.

 “The plan is to expand operations for both local shipments and throughout the US.  Through expansion, we will be able to supply all of North America and areas like Puerto Rico in the near future.”

The Marketing Director ends on this exciting expansion note.