The local food movement has gained momentum recently and because of that, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension is working on testing new crops in the area. 

“We’re looking at specialty crops that are high value crops that we can hopefully get our growers to grow in and around Lubbock and the High Plains area so that they can make more money,” says Russ Wallace, with the AgriLife Extension.

Wallace says they are growing crops like strawberries, blackberries, and pomegranates to see how well they actually grow here. 

“We will then share this information with growers and with the community as we get more data,” Wallace says.

“We’re trying to figure out the best ways that producers can make more money. I mean we want them to be profitable. We’re doing our jobs if our local producers are being profitable,” says Vikram Baliga, who is also with the AgriLife Extension. 

The research is being done among four to five acres of land, and also within high and low tunnels. This involves 4,000 strawberry plants, 100 blackberry plants, and 21 pomegranate bushes offering seven different varieties.

“This year, we planted the last week of August, and I think the plants are growing pretty well this year, but the best thing for the strawberries is to overwinter. Don’t plant them in the spring. Let them overwinter and be covered so they can develop their crowns. The more crowns you have on a strawberry plants, the higher the yield will be,” Wallace says.

The AgriLife Extension team began growing the strawberries about six years ago when they set up the high tunnels. The strawberries failed the first time, but have been producing well ever since. Wallace and Baliga say that strawberries can be grown here, but they do take a lot of care along the way.

“They also do much better inside a high tunnel or under a low tunnel just to keep the wind and the extreme cold off of them,” Wallace says. “It may be 15 degrees outside at night, but it may be 45 degrees inside by the plants. These high tunnels definitely help protect our crops and make them a much better quality and higher yielding crop.”

The strawberries and blackberries are harvested in the spring, while the pomegranates are a fall crop. The prices are also higher on these locally grown fruits, but the whole idea is to help grow the agriculture industry in West Texas even if it takes a lot of trial and error.

“For more consumers, it’s taste that matters too. If they can get something that tastes really good here locally, they’re going to buy it and they’re going to pay a premium for it,” Wallace says.

The AgriLife Extension is looking to experiment with even more crops in the future. 

“Hopefully within the next few years, we’ll figure out the best varieties of pomegranates and blackberries and other things that work here and then find producers that are willing to try them and that’s kind of how you build an industry. You figure out what works, you find people to take a chance on it, and then over time you really can develop a pretty good market and a pretty good local industry,” Baliga says.