Guest essay by Eric Worrall
According to the Aussie ABC, a 3C rise in nighttime temperatures in Nambour is raising costs for farmers by shrinking the size of strawberries.
Climate change means smaller strawberries, higher costs for farmers
ABC Rural / By Melanie GrovesBeing able to eat large, succulent strawberries may become a pleasure of the past, as the popular fruit is the latest victim of a changing climate.
Key points:
- Warm overnight temperatures are contributing to smaller strawberries
- Smaller strawberries are more expensive to pick
- Consumers may need to adapt to buying smaller fruit
It’s not cold weather causing the strawberries to shrink, but rather warmer temperatures.
And as smaller strawberries take longer to pick, production costs are rising along with temperatures — which means lower returns for farmers and could lead to a price hike at the checkout for consumers.
The principle horticulturalist at Queensland’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF), Christopher Menzel, said field tests at the Nambour research centre showed that as air temperatures rose the size of the fruit dropped.
“With [climate change] even here at Nambour the records show the night temperatures have gone up by about 3 degrees over the past 50 to 60 years, which is quite significant,” he said.
“The size of the fruit is very sensitive to temperatures.
…
Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-16/climate-change-small-strawberries-warmer-nights/100071954
Can you imagine the calamity of having to eat smaller strawberries? If further warming occurs, obviously it is not going to be possible for Nambour farmers to switch to a different variety of strawberries, or grow something else, because in the age of the climate crisis no adaption to changed conditions is possible.
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John Brignall stopped updating his warmlist nearly a decade ago.
In 2015 he posted the reason why:
The time it takes to process a new entry increases approximately with the square of the list length, after checking for duplications, spoofs etc. Starting it was based on the naïve assumption that the rate of appearances would decline as opposing evidence accumulated, but the reverse happened. That’s the difference between science and religion. It was taking over my life, which I did not want to end as a garbage collector. There have since been hundreds more claims of an increasingly ludicrous nature.
Well anyway, shrinking strawberries would have made the list.
From my observations when shopping Woolworths supply large Strawberries, must be mutants, a case for the X-Files.
Children just aren’t going know what strawberries are.
Ha Ha ha. Good call Rusty, but maybe they won’t know because all the climate hysteria drivel aka “warming” will have shrunk their brains as well.
The solution to the smaller strawberries being more expensive to pick is simple: Hire Ooompa-Loompas. Being smaller in stature, they naturally have smaller hands which can more easily pluck the smaller fruit. Plus, you get singing. Win-win!
…. and the in-house chocolate coating technology. Win-win-win!
Concentrates sugar (Carbon) makes them sweeter?
“Claim: Global Warming is Causing Strawberries to Shrink”
Only when you put them in the pool.
That is quite the pool. I’d like to put my tax bill in it.
Neither causation nor correlation; but probably fertilization! Whoever wrote this doesn’t know manure about growing crops, but that won’t stop a true believer from opining!
I’ll bet that if there was any grower experiencing strawberry shrinkage as reported,their field would be found to be deficient in necessary minerals, organic material or both!
My tomatoes get bigger and sweeter with lots of hot weather; strawberries are not heat tolerant, but grow quite well where they get adequate food and water, and avoid DAYTIME heat! That’s why they are grown commercially along the California coast with its summer fogs! Castroville may claim to be the artichoke Capitol of the world but they had a thriving strawberry business as well, and raspberries and blackberries are grown commercially nearby!
Utter BS from the ABC! They should have donated it to the grower instead inflicting it on their readers!
My bet is that they have been using different breeds of strawberries. Some breeds are larger, some are smaller. In general the smaller strawberries have better taste…
So the bucket of strawberries I recently purchased with all large berries was an anomaly? I actually wanted a mix with smaller berries but I took what was available and they were all huge. Maybe the Australian climate meme is the anomaly.
I find those giant strawberries normally less tasty, middle range is what you want.
I don’t know about you folks, but the strawberries I experienced as a child in the 60s and 70s were half the size of today’s strawberries. Today they seem huge!
Drought may shrink what ever fruit
Is it the Mann Berry variety–developed in in a black box always overpriced and oversold?
Oh dear…
LOL 🙂
Reminds me of a Burt and I joke:
“Where are you headed, Burt?”
“Buryin'”.
“Kind of early for strawberries”.
“It’s my Mother-In-Law”.
I’m sure Sheri’s Berries and the like shari’s berries – Bing – Shopping
will be going out of business any minute now! Just like the store shelves are barren of honey due to the great honey bee die off.
BTW at Meijers day before yesterday they had large quantities of huge Strawberries out and on sale and I have some in my fridge right now. I went to get my hair cut by my barber who has a shop in that store and came back with the fixings for fruit salad because the produce looked so good.
Does anyone else get tired of this kind of neurotic BS?
Is this a new form of reverse physics, biology, chemistry, cold will reduce the size of fruits and vegetables.
I had four varieties of everbearing strawberries. All different sizes and textures. One variety was very small. May be that global warming makes people choose small varieties.
So, it is the strawberries and not the crop sizes that have reduced? It amazes me these things always happen at the same time. I bet it is more likely some reporter couldn’t tell the different between strawberry size and strawberry crop size which has been reduced by 30% or more. I didn’t see anything mentioned about needing students with smaller fingers.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-15/strawberry-prices-farmers-labour-shortage-queensland-students/13225816
That is a pretty reasonable hypothesis given the intellectual quality on display at our ABC. As well as a dearth of pickers, other factors such as competition from the Granite Belt, rising land values and urbanisation around Nambour, and the older farmers not being replaced by a younger generation probably affect the Nambour crops size too. That certainly seems true around Gympie.
some more BS to add to the pile
um how about hybridization? how about direct genetic manipulation? how about just growing the strawberries 300 miles further north?
South in this case, Aussies being all backwards, upside down and such
What bunch of nonesense
Oh Noes! Nambour farmers are incapable of picking the correct variety of strawberries to plant in their microclimate. This is just another example of climate disaster that increasing taxation will fix.
I remember going to a “pick your own” with my parents and being told to pick the small ones, they taste better.
Cytokinin, a plant phyto-hormone, is definitely affected by temperature; it’s levels go down in response to high temperature. Bear in mind that phyto-hormones’ interplay, pulse influence of changing ratios, timing & which tissue are quite convoluted. There are 2 kinds of cytokinin (iso-prenoid & aromatic) with both derived from adenine; for example the main tomato cytokinins are called zeatin & zeatin riboside ( a very active cytokinin).
Before strawberry fruit formation the plant must flower & in plants cytokinin phyto-hormone levels rise at floral initiation. Cytokinin in the floral organ causes increased synthesis of what is called “extensin”; & extensin in turn boosts flower formation.
The “FB” (flower bud) gene is active in pre-floral & floral shoot tips & cytokinin gets “FB7-3” micro-RNA levels to rise in floral bracts. Cytokinin is involved in RNA synthesis.
In zones of dividing cells there is a higher percent of cytokinin activity controlling the cell cycle. Thus, cytokinin is required for cells moving out of what is termed the “G2” step to next enter mitosis; it is needed in mitosis, where it regulates mitotic spindle formation proteins.
Cytokinin keeps dividing plant cells from having the nucleus stymied. Zeatin cytokinin levels peak at the cell growth phase called “exponential”.
Which is to say: that yes, it is conceivable that elevated temperature at an untimely stage of strawberry flowering, seed production &/or fruiting can measurably decrease harvestable strawberry size (because, as stated cytokinin phyto-hormone levels are impacted by temperature).To illustrate the relative temperature impact consider this example: in plant tissue culture when we can generally use 0.2 mg/Lt cytokinin under 17*Celsius (63*F), then for the same purpose would need to consider using from 0.2 to 2.0 mg/Lt cytokinin under 21*C (70*F), & by the time working under 24*C (75*F) for the same purpose generally would use 2.0 mg/Lt. cytokinin.
It’s a metaphor of the Australian economy and science standing.
A 3C rise in nighttime temperatures is either fantasy or caused by UHI near where they measure temperatures.
The last time I grew strawberries they grew faster and larger under moderate nighttime warmth, not smaller. If these are growing smaller its due to nutrients, soil type, or water. This should be EASY to debunk by someone owning a greenhouse.
Greenhouse strawberry production night temperatures are definitely reduced from daytime temperatures if the grower’s installation has that ability. Some, in the warmer temperate zones, don’t grow them in the summer because the cost of electricity for maintaining ideal temperature ranges makes operating the greenhouse production of strawberries too costly to be worth the effort.
As regards to strawberry growth “… due to nutrients…” I might as well point that the plant phyto-hormone cytokinin [detailed 2 comments above as declining in concentration under rising temperature] is integral to nutrient acquisition.
For example: cytokinin increases messenger RNA for the enzyme nitrate reduct-ase, which is a crucial co-factor making a significant form nitrogen taken up into a plant useable form. This is due to cytokinin conjunction with another plant phyto-hormone (“ABA”, abscisic acid) leading to reduced activity levels if that other hormone & that in turn instigates more production of nitrate reduct-ase.
The cytokinins trans-zeatin & trans-zeatin ribosides levels moving from roots upward in a plant fluctuate daily in correlation with the short term nitrogen supply; which is distinct from the plant’s long term nitrogen status. Soil with a low % of nitrogen are problematic because then there is a relative reduction of root synthesized cytokinin, causing less root cytokinin being sent to above ground growth.
When there is low soil nitrogen this causes the plant to expend more energy synthesizing cytokinin in young leaves; which levels (of % cytokinin) is altered by temperature, photo-period & irradiance. Cytokinin in young leaves is elevated & goes down as age of leaf development progresses; in no longer cellular dividing leaves (senescent) cytokinin is way down.