Strawberries in the Ozarks

The Ozarks has long been known for its rocky, hilly land. Not all crops are suited to grow in such a terrain, but these Ozark hills were once key to cultivating crops like strawberries; a steady and dependable source of income for many people of the region. 

During the 1890’s and early 1900’s, entrepreneurs began to promote the Southwest Missouri Ozarks as a fruit growing region. Land values were low in the hilly, sparsely settled areas. The Federal Land Office at Springfield had more than 500,000 acres of virgin government land to dispose of in 1893, and 400,000 acres remained unsold as late as 1900. Cheap land prices encouraged the purchase of forty to eighty acre tracts. The purchasers of the rocky, hilly land, realized it would be ideal for strawberries.

During the strawberry heyday, Exeter was one of the major growing and shipping centers in Missouri. An estimated million crates of berries were shipped from Exeter between 1918 and 1953. Because of the big business of strawberries, Monett became one of the busiest shipping centers for the Frisco Railroad. Berry sheds were located alongside Frisco tracks. Crops were brought to Monett to be placed in refrigerated cars to be shipped throughout the Midwest. Of course, with the popularity of the crop, these two towns were not alone in the production and distribution of the popular crop. Throughout the Ozarks, there was money to be made off of the berries.

Such a bustling business required the work of many hired pickers. Traditionally, workers were not paid an hourly wage, but were paid by the amount of strawberries they picked. The pickers received tokens that represented the number of boxes picked, which then could be redeemed for pay. 

Strawberries remained a strong crop in the Ozarks, into the 1960’s. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “By 1970, with burgeoning yields from California and new federal rules for labor-camp dwellings, many growers had put berry fields to other crops.”