X

How we grow

At Driscoll’s, our growing strategy starts long before the first seeds are sown, and it doesn’t end until the carefully packed berries are delivered to your nearest store.

Research and development

Thanks to our comprehensive R&D program, Driscoll’s has perfected the art of berry-growing. We have patented a range of berry varieties, each one renowned for its flavour and colour.

Before any one of our berry plants is sent out for commercial farming, it undergoes rigorous screening. Indeed, we only send out the top 1% of plants that we propagate, supporting our commitment to only ever producing the best berries.

Our berries are bred naturally, making them more resistant to diseases and pests. We never irradiate or genetically modify our plants, either.

Nursery

Once a plant has passed the R&D phase, it heads to one of our nurseries. These nurseries are carefully selected based on geographic locations where the soil is free of pests and diseases.

After spending its early days in a screen house, the seedling is planted in a nursery field. It may spend several years here, beyond which the seedling is harvested and carefully packed and shipped to a cooler to await collection by a Driscoll’s farmer.

Growing

Our berries are grown in the fresh air, in a dynamic biological environment. The farmers’ challenge is to work with nature to get the very best out of every berry plant. Their goal is to shape the biological diversity of their fields as naturally as possible.

Berries are planted in rows, with a slope to ensure that irrigation water flows smoothly across the field.

Different berry plants have different growing and harvesting needs. Strawberries take 30 days to mature from flower to fruit, with the fields re-planted every year. Raspberries require re-planting every 2-3 years; blackberries every 5-6 years; while the hardy blueberry can live longer than 15 years.

Delivery

At Driscoll’s, our goal is to get the berries from our farmers’ fields to you with minimal disruption. Berries are a very delicate fruit, vulnerable to heat and mis-handling.

Our farmers carefully hand-pick and pack the berries each day during harvest, and get the berries to a Driscoll’s cooler that same afternoon. There, the berries are inspected for quality and cooled to optimal storage temperature.

We ship our berries as soon as possible after harvest, to ensure they arrive at your local store fresh, ripe and delicious.