Did You Know This is How They Grow Strawberries?

Adding more and more plastic to our growing processes

Photo by Inha Pauliuchenka on Unsplash

So, over the years I have heard that a lot of pesticides, fertilizers, and such are used to grow strawberries (at least the ones you would buy at a grocery store). I’ve heard everything from you need to wash them multiple times before eating to washing them with baking soda to you literally can’t wash them enough — the pesticides are staying on/in no matter what you do. But all of that can be an article for another day. What I am writing about here are two things: 1) that over 80% of our nation’s strawberries come from California and 2) many farms use plastic mulches to help grow their strawberries. Wild, right? I mean that can’t be the best practice?!

I have heard of farms and gardens using plastic sheeting to help suppress weeds but I have never heard of plastic mulch being used — and supposedly this is actually pretty common around the globe? It’s almost like we are trying to figure out ways to incorporate more petrol-based products into our society. This plastic mulch is supposed to help with the growth of the strawberries but it turns out this plastic is leeching into our soil. Who would have thought?!

“Researchers have discovered that plastic mulch, widely used to support the…