DORSETT— Berries like these will pay any year 
If the production of all food crops in this country were as much below normal as strawberries, we would 
have famine conditions here, now. One national farm paper said editorially in its May, 1944 issue, "Strawberry 
acreage is so far down it may take five years to get it back to normal. If you want berries, grow them." This 
shortage has been caused by other shortages in planting stock and labor. It has been aggravated by two suc- 
cessive and very damaging summer droughts. Strawberries require a fairly large amount of hand labor, 
especially at picking time, so that growers have not felt justified in taking a chance on getting them grown 
and picked. This has been especially true in heavy producing sections from which a large part of the country's 
total supply comes. 
A golden opportunity has thus been created for the small grower who has some good berry land and a 
dependable, if small, source of help. Prices of berries have more than kept pace with growing costs, even 
at the high prices now being asked for plants, labor and other essentials. Price ceilings seem to be the only 
thing to limit the selling price of good strawberries. Even O.P.A. in 1944 was so impressed with the scarcity 
and the need for stimulating production, that wholesale at the farm ceilings of around thirty-five cents and 
retail prices of around sixty cents per quart were allowed. 
A big demand for all the strawberries produced in the next few years is assured. Everybody likes them 
and the civilian demands for fresh berries have not been fully met in the last year or two. Preservers and 
other processors have had very short supplies. More berries are needed for the armed forces and for shipment 
in cold pack or preserve form to our allies and liberated countries. In the long run strawberries will create 
their own demand because they are delicious to eat, nutritious, and healthful. They are being more and more 
recognized as an important source of Vitamin C. But for the next year or two the big demand is there — piled 
up and waiting. 
Your share of the profits to be made from this assured demand and high prices will depend on how many 
you grow. For those who have a bit of good land available, strawberry growing presents a golden opportunity 
to make some real money while producing badly needed Food for Victory. 
Peoria Co., 111., Jan. 24, 1944. I cleared $1,600 on % of an 
acre of Catskill this year, sold at the patch at 50c per box faster 
than I could get them picked. Mr. Joe Slough 
