Strawberries have an interesting lineage that many people may be unaware of. The story goes that the humble garden strawberry (fragaria x ananassa) originated from a spontaneous cross between two wild alpine strawberries, fragaria virginiana and fragaria chiloensis in 17th century France. Below we have grown them out in tissue culture to see what they were like.
Originally alpines like vesca were just an appetizing snack on a forest trail walk, but look at where their genes are today, it could almost be as if you are eating an apple.
Strawberries are an octoploid species, and are well known for their wide genetic diversity. They are bred for increased berry size (like above) amongst other traits in our mass-produced food systems.
The elusive, unique strawberry that everyone loves, but that can also be scaled up from farms at profitable high yields remains on every breeder’s mind. It is no surprise that strawberries are one of our favorites in CEA, so it could be ripe (sorry for the pun) for picking this market.
Strawberries are selected for flavor, sugar content, size, shelf life, but lately the game has been on for high-end uniformity and quality. We remember only a few years back when Oishii launched their high end VF grown seedless strawberry, Omakase.
The Omakase Berry, selling for around $50 per pack of six when they first launched was a stroke of genius because it put them into an exclusive bracket. High profile marketing and positive economics recently brought the price down to $11.99. Like the prestige of owning an iPhone, it will be interesting to see if the price drop makes it more or less appealing to consumers.
“Our mission is not to sell luxury fruits. Our mission is to raise the standard of fresh fruit in America through the innovative power of vertical farming, which is why we’ve been able to lower our prices without sacrificing on flavor,” Oishii Co-founder Hiroki Koga.
So how can the rest of us get a bite of this action? Well, firstly we have to consider who will buy from us to set out our stall; knowing the end consumer is key to the breeder’s objective, whether it be for supermarkets or the high-end deli market.
Growing rare breeds like fragaria chiloensis above takes skill, but, with CEA on our side we can boost our chances of success. New breeds may turn out to be perfect for VF and high-end farming, especially if we can perfect the flavor through hybridization of species.
If you want to replicate the good fortune of Oishii locally, and grow the best quality – we have all the links to mastering strawberry growing in CEA using the latest agritech techniques and as a bonus we have even talked about the benefits they bring to your health.
Janet Colston PhD is pharmacologist with an interest in growing ‘functional’ foods that have additional phytonutrients and display medicinal qualities that are beneficial to human health. She grows these using a range of techniques including plant tissue micropropagation and controlled environmental agriculture to ensure the highest quality control.