Categories: News

How many strawberries will the world eat this year?

 In a piece heavy on narrative flair, The Wall Street Journal dives deep on berry giant Driscoll’s Inc this week. The tale starts in March 2020, when executive Soren Bjorn admits that he blew it. After restaurants started to close during the pandemic, Bjorn decided the company should cut back on production, only to be deluged with consumer demand from the housebound and hungry. You may recall last year’s berry shortage (it’s hard to remember things!), a complement to our flour, toilet paper, and canning jar shortages. This year Driscoll’s does not intend to repeat its mistakes; the WSJ piece looks at all the sophisticated planning and data analysis being used to predict this year’s planting and harvesting. Even if you’re put off by Driscoll’s iffy labor practices, it’s a compelling behind-the-scenes peek at berry supply chain logistics.

Related Post
The Counter and The Counter
Share
Published by
The Counter and The Counter

Recent Posts

Grist acquires The Counter and launches food and agriculture vertical

Grist, an award-winning, nonprofit media organization dedicated to highlighting climate solutions and uncovering environmental injustices,…

6 months ago

Is California giving its methane digesters too much credit?

Every year, California dairy farms emit hundreds of thousands of tons of the potent greenhouse…

2 years ago

Your car is killing coho salmon

Highway 7 runs north-south through western Washington, carving its way through a landscape sparsely dotted…

2 years ago

The pandemic has transformed America’s dining landscape into an oligopoly dominated by chains 

One of the greatest pleasures I had as a child growing up in the Chicago…

2 years ago

California is moving toward food assistance for all populations—including undocumented immigrants

Undocumented immigrants experience food insecurity at much higher rates than other populations, yet they are…

2 years ago

Babka, borscht … and pumpkin spice? Two writers talk about Jewish identity through contemporary cookbooks.

Writer Charlotte Druckman and editor Rebecca Flint Marx are both Jewish journalists living in New…

3 years ago