Australia’s strawberry crisis now tastes a little sweeter for farmers

Fruit wholesalers are reporting an uptick in sales, thanks in part to social media campaigns that encouraged Australians to bake a strawberry pavlova or just “#Smashastrawb” and eat it.
/AFP

AUSTRALIA’s pins-in-punnets strawberry crisis prompted a spate of social-media driven hoaxes, but sites like Facebook and Twitter are also helping stir a revival in sales that has left some farmers struggling to meet resurgent demand.

For almost two weeks, reports of pins and needles being found in fruit across Australia have delivered a gut punch to industry, set grocery-shoppers on edge and left police struggling to find needles in a haystack of copycat pranks.

But now Australians – adopting a shrug-and-get-on-with-it attitude – have had enough. They are getting back on their berries.

Wholesalers are reporting an uptick in sales, thanks in part to social media campaigns that encouraged Australians to bake a strawberry pavlova or just “#Smashastrawb” and eat it.

“Things are on the up,” said Jim Ripepi of Australian Strawberry Distributors, a family-owned company that grows and sells strawberries wholesale.

“The public support has been really overwhelming. Sales are picking up,” he told AFP. “I was selling out every day this week.”

Supermarkets are starting to report a similar trend and are even struggling to meet demand after many of their usual suppliers packed up tools fearing the worst.

For some farmers it may be too little too late, but for the industry at large, it’s a godsend.

The crisis began almost two weeks ago with needles being found in two brands of strawberries in the northeast state of Queensland.