Strawberry Cultivation In Climate Change

Joaquin Valencia
8B/C. Campoalegre
Climate Change
4/3/2024

Context and Problem:

This Investigation seeks through qualitative means to find the effect of Climate
Change on Strawberry Cultivation. This Cultivation is located in Subachoque, Cundinamarca,
Colombia. The Average high temperature is 17.7 Celsius and the low is 8.5 Celsius,
Subachoque is located near the Equator on the Tropic Of Cancer. The warmest month is
January and the coldest one is July. It counts with an average rainfall of 27.44 millimetres and
an annual rainfall of 329.26 millilitres with April the wettest month having 190.5 millimetres
with 304 rainy days about 83% of the year. This gives us a cool temperate climate but also
intercedes in the afternoon with a strong savanna sun and cool/chilly night. The land for the
cultivation is hilly and lacking in water naturally due to run-off. The hot summers are
especially bad degrading plants and killing them this may be due to a baseline hot summer,
but the greenhouse emissions have indeed contributed to warmer summers with less rainfall
aggravating the plant's situation, and it’s survival chance, further a serious lack of water
would also affect artificial irrigation if rationing is put into place to conserve it
The Strawberry cultivation in the initial establishment (It’s an estimation) counts with
50 13-meter furrows and 27 26-meter furrows about a meter or less wide. The furrows are in
fact mounds covered in plastic with holes on top in a regular pattern for the strawberry plant.
This leads to a total of 12,000 plants with an expectation to get to 20,000. Currently, produces
36.29 kilograms in 5 boxes of 7.26 kilograms per harvest. The cultivation suffers from a lack
of water, and a mediocre terrain. The local fauna especially blackbirds who constantly eat,
attack, defecate or otherwise damage the product the main solution is manually scaring them
away and hanging dead birds nearby to scare them other problems may include insects worms
and plagues. This further leads to balancing the use of pesticides. On the climate front during
summer (December, January) it gets very little rain, and it's very dry leading to plants dying
and producing smaller, uglier fruit. The Blackbird or Great Thrush is the main harmful fauna:
● Habitat: Inhabits subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and high-altitude
shrubland.
● Range: Found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
● Size: Known as the largest thrush in South America.
● Urban Adaptation: Can utilize degraded forest and urban areas.
● Fruits and berries: Great Thrushes are avid fruit consumers. They feast on various
fruits and berries found in their habitat. Whether it’s ripe figs, juicy guavas, or sweet
berries, they relish these natural treats.
 ● Insects and Invertebrates: Like many thrush species, the Great Thrush is an
insectivore. They hunt for insects, spiders, and other small invertebrates. Their diet
includes beetles, ants, caterpillars, and grasshoppers.
● Earthworms: These birds are skilled at probing the soil for earthworms. They use their
sharp beaks to extract these nutritious wrigglers from the ground.
● Occasional Amphibians and Reptiles: While not their primary food source, Great
Thrushes occasionally snack on amphibians (such as frogs) and small reptiles (like
lizards).
● Foraging Behaviour: They forage on the forest floor, hopping around fallen leaves and
debris, and searching for hidden insects and fruits.
.In the end, this behaviour leads them to be harmful to the strawberries. This would be
the context to keep in mind for the rest of the paper weather, fauna, terrain, and the
cultivation itself

Goals:
Our main goal for this project is to investigate the problems, benefits and challenges
people working in the strawberry cultivation face. Indeed, the strawberry cultivation faces
threats from fauna and flora to weather. The effects of strawberry cultivation on the local
environment or ecosystem affect nearby fauna and flora, Its Social Impact: Did it alter the
neighbours or did they even notice it, who's buying it, what is its financial status etc?

Samples/Subjects:
❖ The Majordomo Omar Valdés Valdez
➢ He is in charge of supervising the harvest and day-to-day of the
strawberry fumigation, dealing with fauna and other tasks.
❖ Owner Pedro Agustín Valencia:
➢ Owns the strawberry cultivation, manages its finances and sells them
❖ Neighbour Maria Isabel
➢ She is the next-door neighbour we are separated by some bushes lives
with her sister, both retired.
❖ The Strawberry Cultivation:
➢ The Strawberry cultivation in the initial establishment (It’s an
estimation) counts with 50 13-meter furrows and 27 26-meter furrows
about a meter or less wide. The furrows are in fact mounds covered in
plastic with holes on top in a regular pattern for the strawberry plant.
This leads to a total of 12,000 plants with an expectation to get to
20,000. Currently, produces 36.29 kilograms in 5 boxes of 7.26
kilograms per harvest. (Mentioned Above)
Methods:
I. Interviews with subjects to achieve a clear understanding and see how strawberry
cultivation affected them
A. We want to do semi-structured interviews with questions such as
1. What is your role in the cultivation
 2. How has it affected you socially
3. Does it affect your work or family time
4. The daily challenges of the field
5. Economic impact
6. Why did they start working there
7. How has it affected the community
II. Photos of the cultivation or birds to see their status, size,etc properly from drones and
camera
III. Product strawberries can be eaten to check the quality of products such as marmalade
or fruit syrup revise its quality could be compared to a control group of normal
strawberries
Results:
❖ The effect upon the neighbours and the community was minimal, due to the
small scale it needs no large amount of pesticides and at most provides 2-4
permanent jobs it does however provide up to 10 temporary and seasonal jobs.
An important part of the Subachoques economy is these seasonal jobs,
especially in potatoes, that fulfil the employment needs of educated young
men and may be the stepping stone for more serious jobs.
❖ Socially, it has connected both the owner and the majordomo to a network of
strawberry sellers etc. We must also consider that the majordomos' uncle
worked with Aurélio Ilagorri a somewhat distant blood relation of Agustín in
another strawberry cultivation in which the majordomo participated in, the
majordomo has also worked in strawberry cultivation he helped start and was
an actionist of.
❖ This strawberry is mostly harvested and moved out of Subachoque to
supermarkets or where houses, usually in Bogotá.
❖ For the majordomo, his workload consists of three main things, acting as a
chafer to drive us in and out of school a task that in total takes 4 hours,
revising the ground plants and Animals such as feeding horses and watering
trees and lastly revising the strawberry cultivation scare away birds and
fumigate the product.
❖ Agustín workloads consist of mainly managing the finances of the strawberry
which is a very light seasonal task.His main purpose is to provide the capital
for the cultivation including land labour and seeds plus any material such as
plastic
❖ The effect of the cultivation in the surrounding area is mainly in plastic due to
pesticides being of a weak variety as there is no need to fight strong fungi or
diseases for the strawberries but to grow strawberries the mounds are covered
in plastic so they remain humid but this plastic breaks of and cause rubbish
through the cultivation, thou not very much.
❖ The Blackbird is strawberry's main consumer and a serious challenge to
cultivation especially a subspecies known as the savannah blackbird which
lacks a distinctive white tail and the ability to sing.
Analysis and Conclusions
❖ Economic Impact:
➢ The strawberry cultivation in Subachoque has minimal impact on neighbours
and the community due to its small scale.
➢ It provides 2-4 permanent jobs and up to 10 temporary and seasonal jobs,
which are crucial for the local economy.
➢ These seasonal jobs serve as a stepping stone for educated young men,
potentially leading to more stable employment opportunities.
❖ Social Connections:
➢ The cultivation has connected the owner and the majordomo to a network of
strawberry sellers.
➢ The majordomo’s previous experience in strawberry cultivation, including
working with Aurélio Ilagorri, contributes to this network.
❖ Logistics and Workload:
➢ The majordomo’s tasks include driving, plant and animal care, and managing
strawberry cultivation.
➢ Agustín primarily handles financial aspects, providing capital for land, labour,
seeds, and materials (such as plastic).
❖ Environmental Impact:
➢ Plastic use is a significant environmental concern due to the mounds being
covered with plastic to maintain humidity.
➢ Pesticides, although weak, contribute to plastic waste.
➢ The Blackbird, especially the savannah subspecies, poses challenges by
consuming strawberries.
➢ Conclusions:
❖ The cultivation benefits the local economy through job creation.
➢ Seasonally and in a very small wat
❖ Social connections enhance the network of sellers.
➢ Expanding the networks of strawberry sellers maybe include other smiler fruit
and berries
❖ Plastic waste and pesticide use need attention for sustainable practices.
❖ The Blackbird threat requires mitigation strategies.
➢ Such as air rifles or scarecrows
Analysis and co
Bibliography:
Mirla patinaranja (Turdus fuscater). (n.d.). NaturaLista Colombia.

https://colombia.inaturalist.org/taxa/12781-Turdus-fuscater

Subachoque, Cundinamarca, CO climate Zone, monthly averages, historical weather data.

(n.d.). https://weatherandclimate.com/colombia/cundinamarca/subachoque
Subachoque climate, Weather by month, Average temperature (Colombia) - Weather spark.

(n.d.). Weather Spark.

https://weatherspark.com/y/23343/Average-Weather-in-Subachoque-Colombia-Year-

Round

NCEI.Monitoring.Info@noaa.gov. (n.d.). Past weather | National Centers for Environmental

Information (NCEI).

https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/past-weather/5.332808763605438,-74.8792526848

855,4.5968075842017155,-73.52482602048383

Cundinamarca, CO climate Zone, monthly weather averages and historical data. (n.d.).

https://weatherandclimate.com/colombia/cundinamarca

Bing AI was used to calculate annual Avengers with the data.

Collaborated: Omar Valdés and Pedro. A. Valencia with information