Farmer thinks hydroponics will grow sweet berry success

By:Kathryn Bursch

Plant City, Florida - The Parke family has been growing strawberries in Hillsborough County dirt for 50 years, but now Gary Parke is breaking with tradition.

Parke has started growing berries hydroponically. Instead of soil and fertilizer, the plants grow from a nutrient solution. And a field now looks like something out of a science project.

Gary Parke, Strawberry grower:
"Yeah, pretty exciting. The two guys that help me say it’s like working at EPCOT everyday."

Parke says by growing the plants on vertical stands, he can put over five times the number of plants on an acre and the method saves on water too.

Gary Parke, Strawberry grower:
"Everything looks good on paper, but what I’ve actually seen…like half the growth time, more production, better taste; how can I not?"

Parke’s first field is a “you pick it” endeavor that opens to the public on Tuesday.

Parke admits this new way of raising berries, may raise some eyebrows as well. But he thinks this new way of growing red will generate a lot more green