The status and future of the strawberry industry in the United States

Authors: SAMTANI, JAYESH - VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION & STATE UNIVERSITY; ROM, CURT - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS; FRIEDRICH, HEATHER - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS; FENNIMORE, STEVEN - UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA; FINN, CHAD; PETRAN, ANDREW - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA; WALLACE, RUSSELL - TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE; PRITTS, MARVIN - CORNELL UNIVERSITY; FERNANDEZ, GINA - NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY; CHASE, CARLENE - UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA; KUBOTA, CHERI - THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY; BERGEFURD, BRAD - THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: HortTechnology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/3/2018
Publication Date: 1/31/2019
Citation: Samtani, J.B., Rom, C.R., Friedrich, H., Fennimore, S.A., Finn, C.E., Petran, A., Wallace, R.W., Pritts, M.P., Fernandez, G., Chase, C.A., Kubota, C., Bergefurd, B. 2019. The status and future of the strawberry industry in the United States. HortTechnology. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH04135-18.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH04135-18

Interpretive Summary: Strawberries are commercially produced throughout the US but production practices vary by region. Understanding the challenges, needs, and opportunities throughout these diverse regions is important to guide research, policy, and marketing strategies. This review divided the US into eight geographic regions and an indoor controlled or protected environment production systems. Current production systems, markets, cultivars, trends, and future directions for each region are discussed. A common trend across all regions is the increasing use of protected culture strawberry production with both day-neutral and short-day cultivars for season extension to meet consumer demand for year-round availability. All regions experience challenges with pests and obtaining adequate harvest labor. Increasing consumer demand for berries, climate change-induced environmental variability, pesticide use, labor and immigration policies, and land availability impact regional production, thus facilitating the adoption of new technologies such as robotics and network communications to assist with strawberry harvesting in open-field production and production under controlled-environment agriculture and protected culture.

Technical Abstract: Strawberry (Fragaria ·ananassa) production practices followed by growers in the United States vary by region. Understanding the challenges, needs, and opportunities in each region is essential to guide research, policy, and marketing strategies for the strawberry industry across the country, and to enable the development of general and region-specific educational and production tools. This review divided the United States into eight distinct geographic regions and an indoor controlled or protected environment production system. Current production systems, markets, cultivars, trends, and future directions for each region are discussed. A common trend across all regions is the increasing use of protected culture strawberry production with both day-neutral and short-day cultivars for season extension to meet consumer demand for year-round availability. All regions experience challenges with pests and obtaining adequate harvest labor. Increasing consumer demand for berries, climate change-induced weather variability, high pesticide use, labor and immigration policies, and land availability impact regional production, thus facilitating the adoption of new technologies such as robotics and network communications to assist with strawberry harvesting in open-field production and production under controlled-environment agriculture and protected culture.