To many, nothing says summer like a big bowl of cool, luscious ripe strawberries picked straight from the garden. But due to the scarcity of locally grown strawberries, that luxury is out of reach for most Texans.
Now, thanks to a $92,267 grant provided by the Walmart Foundation, Texas grown strawberries could become as common as locally grown tomatoes if a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service vegetable expert has his way.
Dr. Russ Wallace of Lubbock heads the Texas Strawberry Team tasked with making strawberries a mainstream Texas produced treat.
“We received notification on May 18 that our project entitled ‘Increasing Grower Market Potential and Consumer Preference for Locally Grown Strawberries through Strategic Extension Programming in Texas’ was among six grants awarded during Phase II of the National Strawberry Sustainability Initiative. The initiative is funded by the Walmart Foundation and administered by the University of Arkansas Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Texas A&M AgriLife Extension