Europe produced more strawberries by planting way more acres. America produced more strawberries without planting way more acres. Instead, America made a better strawberry.
98 sats \ 5 replies \ @k00b 15 Apr
Kind of related but the university I went to has a big agricultural focus. My viticulture prof said most of the university's profits come from a patent on splicing a fish gene into strawberries to prevent them from freezing.
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110 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 15 Apr
Along those lines, I happen to know one of the foremost experts on the economics of strawberries. (I'm actually just assuming that's his professional status, because how many people can there be studying that?)
A lot of America's advantage over Europe in agriculture comes down to allowing far more synthetic processes, from chemical treatments to genetic manipulation. For strawberries specifically, there's something about how we allow a particularly toxic fumigant to be used that's illegal pretty much everywhere else and is illegal in America for almost any other purpose.
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40 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 16 Apr
I'm both proud and afraid (that we're going the way of one of Margaret Atwood's bio-fiction novels.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 16 Apr
Same
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100 sats \ 1 reply \ @davidw 15 Apr
What would be easier? Thawberry farming or keeping a bunch of opinionated misfits happy on the internet?
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105 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b 15 Apr
lol both are hard in their own ways. I'm more familiar with the difficulty of one though for sure.
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32 sats \ 1 reply \ @Lumor 15 Apr
Which ones are more nutrient dense and better for the soil?
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118 sats \ 0 replies \ @zuspotirko OP 15 Apr
Presumably the european approach is less sugar and water by weight.
Soil idk. The american approach is using the existing space more intensely. But it also just uses less space and the saved square miles could be more square miles for nature - assuming the strawberry space has no side effect on how much space is used for corn instead. So idk. Interesting topic to think about.
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8 sats \ 0 replies \ @nym 15 Apr
I’m glad are finding a way forward despite all the pressures producers are facing from taxes and regulations.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @0xIlmari 16 Apr
I find this funny because US has so much cheap land available, but they didn't use it. Europe? Packed with cities and industry, but they used more of the precious land anyway.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @jeff 16 Apr
The strawberries are NOT better.
They are disgusting genetic mutilations.
They are the size of plums now, have wierd textures, woody taste...but look fabulous on the shelf of stores.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Enemy_of_the_state 17 Apr
Yes, barely any flavor at all…idk why people buy fruit from the grocery in the US. Grocery store tomatoes are another no-go. Just awful. A nice tasting heirloom like a brandywine tomato will set you back $5 each though…I guess I will just stick to beef, it’s cheaper.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @john_doe 15 Apr
Thanks to "genetic gains"... 2 days before I ate better nuts from America. No taste at all, I couldn't even make a distinction between the nuts. As I am a good person, I happily made a donation yesterday and will continue eating my worst nuts which have a taste. It could have been the same for strawberries too I guess. If I happen to buy these better strawberries by mistake I will generously make a donation again to someone. My target for donations are people who go to McDonalds, they are very receptive to better nuts.
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