A warmer-than-usual spring led to an early harvest in 2024 for Arkansas berries, while an emerging disease and issues with planting leave a lot up in the air for strawberries in 2025.
Although blackberries, blueberries and strawberries were early in 2024, the warm, dry spring provided good growing conditions, said Amanda McWhirt, extension horticulture production specialist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
“There were several crops that were anywhere from two to three weeks early,” McWhirt said. “That really helped our strawberry growers initially because it really got them going. There was some concerns consumers wouldn’t be ready for strawberries that early. But we had a fairly good strawberry season.”…