Once upon a time, fruits were seasonal. In 2026 America, however, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries are permanently available at grocery stores. That’s thanks in no small part to Driscoll’s, by far the biggest name in berries.

In 1989, its board made what the company calls the Meadowood Declaration, a resolution that seemed preposterous at the time: to make all four berries available, in every season, in every part of the world.

A few decades later, they’ve largely succeeded. But at what cost?

Driscoll’s global raspberry business was built on a cultivar it patented in 2004: the Maravilla, a berry that was red enough, sweet enough and shelf-stable enough to be grown and shipped globally…The drawback of the Maravilla, Mr. Rak said carefully, is that it doesn’t taste all that good.

Sure, they’re not very good, but at least you can always get ’em!

Personally, I’d much rather get some delicious farm stand berries, in season.