UF researchers warn 4 Bay Area counties could face highest strawberry disease risk from predicted El Niño

MANGO, Fla. - Strawberry season may have wrapped up, but scientists are looking ahead to the predicted El Niño weather pattern this year, which brings a higher chance for fruit diseases.

Research Assistant Scientist Cheryl Dalid works at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences in their Hillsborough County extension. She helps to develop strawberries that are resistant to diseases like botrytis, or gray mold.

"We had a meeting with the strawberry growers, and we are releasing another new potential strawberry that could be added to the mix that is more resistant to botrytis, so hopefully that will help the industry," Dalid said.

Impact of El Niño on strawberry crops

The backstory:

They may need it. This year's predicted El Niño weather pattern could bring more moisture, which is ripe conditions for fungus.

UF/IFAS post-doctoral researcher Vinicius Cerbaro focused on El Niño and what it means for the strawberry industry in a new study.

"Are there any particular counties that are more affected or less affected? And what is the potential influence on fungicide spraying?" Cerbaro said.

Bay Area counties face higher risk

Why you should care:

Looking at El Niño in Florida over the past 74 years, Cerbaro found Hillsborough, Polk, Manatee and Hardee counties are at higher risk for botrytis fruit rot. Years ago, UF developed the AgroClimate Strawberry Advisory System to help.

 "So, instead of following a regular spray for fungicide, they would spray only when conditions are favorable for disease based on weather, or at least if not reduce the spray, adjust their timing better," Cerbaro said.

What's next:

Researchers have physical weather stations set up around the state as part of the AgroClimate tool in Florida. But they do not cover all areas where farms exist, so Cerbaro said they are testing out new virtual weather stations in the advisory system to help more growers.

"If you have a grower that is not near to a weather station, a physical weather station, they can go in the system, they can contact us and share the field location, latitude, longitude, and the field name, and we can create a virtual weather station," Cerbaro said.