A timely start to strawberry season at Tincap Berry Farm near Brockville, Ont.

The strawberry picking season is underway in eastern Ontario.

Tincap Berry Farm - just eight kilometres north of Brockville - sold its first batch of 2025 on Saturday.

According to market manager Terri Dentz, it’s a typical time to start the season and a nice change of pace from 2024 and 2023.

“Last year we started selling strawberries I think on May 28 or something,” says Dentz. “So much, much earlier last year and the year before that.”

The window to grow strawberries is limited in eastern Ontario’s climate, but it’s something Tincap is used to and it’s why the farm is happy that this year’s season started a bit later.

“Both of those years were really hard for us as producers to just manage the different weather conditions,” says Dentz.

According to Environment Canada, Brockville’s average temperature in May was 12.8 C - down from an average of 15.5 C in May 2024 - part of what allowed Tincap to start picking at its regular time.

Starting to pick strawberries on May 28 compared to June 7 is a difference of just 11 days. In the grand scheme, it isn’t a huge difference. But it does have an impact on the farm’s day-to-day operation.

“That real extreme warmth brings the crop on early, but it means we have to do more frost protection, means we have to do more management.”

Dentz says weather has been harder to predict in recent years, but the farm just has to adjust accordingly.

Tincap Berry Farm also grows asparagus, raspberries, pumpkins and apples throughout the year.

Tincap’s strawberries are slightly more expensive than last year. A 1L basket costs $7.50, up from $7.25 a year ago. 2L baskets were $14.25 last year but now cost $15.

According to Statistics Canada, the average price of 454g of strawberries in grocery stores was $3.07 in April. Tincap’s 1L basket weighs about 567g – so the farm’s berries are more expensive than grocery stores.

But it’s worth the extra cost, according to customers like April Woolley, who only buy strawberries from berry farms.

“There’s no comparison,” she says. “I heard that they were up, so we couldn’t get back here quick enough.”