Gretna growers warn mixed outlook

Strawberries are supposed to signal the easy part of spring — pick a basket, maybe grab a bottle, go home happy. But the growers showing up in Gretna this weekend were talking about a much messier season. A late-April frost hit parts of Virginia just as crops were getting going, and the state is also still dealing with a long dry stretch. The result is a split picture — some farms look fine, some took real damage, and nobody sounds fully relaxed about the weeks ahead. ### What happened in Gretna? At the Strawberry and Wine Festival in Gretna on May 9, growers used a feel-good event to describe a pretty uneven spring. The clearest example came from Brooks Mill Winery owner H.T. Page, who said frost had been a bigger problem than drought for his operation. Another vineyard at the festival said it had taken about 80% damage. But Kevin Motley of Motley’s Strawberry Farm said his berries escaped frost damage and that dry weather can actually help strawberries by limiting disease and keeping pick-your-own customers coming. (wset.com) ### Why was frost the bigger shock? Because timing matters more than the calendar. A frost in late April lands after plants have already started pushing tender new growth, so the cold is hitting the most vulnerable part of the season. That is why growers can live through a dry spell with irrigation and still get blindsided by one cold snap. In Gretna, that is exactly how farmers described it — drought was manageable for some, but frost was the thing that actually killed fruit or damaged vines. (wset.com) ### So is drought still a problem? Yes — just not in the same way for every farm. Virginia’s drought monitoring team met on April 28 and kept tracking dry conditions across the commonwealth. More broadly, the Southeast entered spring with major moisture deficits after a dry stretch running back to 2025, and Virginia ranked among the driest states in the region over the September-to-March period. Low soil moisture means farms without strong irrigation are exposed, and even farms that can irrigate are burning money on pumps, diesel, and labor. (wset.com) ### Why would dry weather help strawberries? Because strawberries hate some of the things rain brings with it. Wet conditions can spread disease, rot fruit, and keep customers away from pick-your-own fields. Motley’s point in Gretna was basically that dry weather is not automatically bad if the plants have water and the farm avoided frost. Another Virginia strawberry grower, Todd Adams in Dinwiddie County, said the opposite side of that tradeoff is cost — he has had to water heavily since planting, and without rain the season can shorten fast. (deq.virginia.gov) ### Does this mean shoppers will see shortages? Not necessarily a clean shortage — more like inconsistency. One farm may have good-looking berries and a normal picking window, while another has lighter yields or a shorter season. Wine faces the same kind of patchiness, only with longer consequences, because damaged vines can affect the 2026 vintage rather than just one weekend’s market table. So the weird part for shoppers is that stands can still look full while the underlying season is much shakier than usual. (wset.com) ### Why do festivals matter so much here? For small growers and wineries, festival days are not just marketing — they are cash flow and customer retention. Page said events like Gretna’s help keep wineries going during slower stretches and introduce them to new customers. That matters more in a damaged year, when a farm may need direct sales and repeat visitors to offset a weaker crop. Basically, the festival is doing two jobs at once — celebrating the season and helping farms survive it. (wset.com) ### What should people take from this? Spring abundance in Virginia is real this year, but it is patchy. Frost hit some growers hard, drought is still hanging over the state, and the same weather can help one farm while hurting the next. So if berries or bottles seem a little uneven from stand to stand, that is not your imagination — it is the season. (wset.com)