Rooting thousands of strawberry plants on elevated tables the first week of October 2021, Oppy, under the Ocean Spray license, has launched the first-ever specialty berry pack in the Happy Berry label in mid-January 2022. The hydroponic tabletop strawberry concept was developed by New Wave Berry, LLC which is a joint venture formed by grower, marketer and distributor Oppy, agricultural investment firm Farmers Gate and family-owned agribusiness Red Dog Management, who is growing the crop in Santa Maria, California.

The newly-constructed high tunnel facility grows protected strawberries on tables raised to chest height, making labour more ergonomically friendly for those planting, tending and harvesting the berries. Growing hydroponically also requires fewer inputs than field-grown strawberries — because they are elevated, the ground beneath them does not require the intense fumigation between planting cycles typically applied in traditional production. Berries receive just the right nutrition, at just the right time while dramatically reducing water use, and greenhouse efficiencies enable all of those benefits for year-round production.

“Berry consumption continues to rise, outpacing the growth of other fruit items,” said Oppy vice president of categories and strategy Jason Fung. “While we’re very encouraged to see this, macro level trends facing the industry such as land availability, labour, water, sustainability and beyond continue to raise challenges. We seek to do better, and this new way of growing is really going to change things — we believe it represents the future of strawberry growing.”

Source:   Ocean Spray January 24, 2022 news release