As 2025 begins, many farmers will be considering which crop to grow in the year ahead. Most will have been in planning mode well before now, but if you are considering berries this year it’s important to recognise they require a different growing strategy from leafy greens, tomatoes or other commonly grown greenhouse and indoor crops.
Towards the end of last year we saw how strawberries were elevated to prime-position in vertical farms like Oishii. We also advised how strawberry breeding may lead to higher value crops and sales which offsets high input costs.
Could it be the year of the berry?
Properly managed greenhouse facilities consider yield (from research data the best farms are yielding around 1.0-1.5 kg/plant/year, Ohio State University) the most important factor in ensuring profitability in the highly competitive soft fruit market.
Even with higher yields, profits are often small as they compete with energy and labor inputs on tight margins. Some farmers may decide to raise the price per lb, but inevitably this reduces their accessible market. Others may attempt to grow in a vertical farm, but again additional input costs (utilities and labor) may not result in significant returns on investment.
What sets quality soft fruits apart is a combination of traits that can be produced with breeding unique varieties, combining Brix level, truss yield, flavour, and aesthetics with a good shelf life.
But traditional breeding methods take up significant time and resources which is not usually at the forefront of a farmers’ strategy.
What if we can speed up the process, making new varieties available
With controlled environment agriculture (CEA), we can breed crops faster than ever before. By combining in vitro cloning techniques with acclimation in CEA, plugs can be ready for spring planting in greenhouses, hoop houses or open fields. While we can see the obstacles with blueberries in CEA, early stage growth and propagation under controlled conditions prior to field transfer has potential to increase yields.
Honeyberry is known to have higher antioxidant levels than blueberries and could be much easier to manage indoors in a controlled environment.
CEA enhances sustainable production methods – efficiency gained in TC cloning
With increased energy costs and a changing landscape of population, skills and labor we must look for further efficiencies in food production. As others look to new technology in lighting, irrigation, greenhouse structure and automation with robotics, the plants themselves are quite often overlooked. Redressing the balance will help farmers take advantage of starting with disease-free cultured plants.
When space is at a premium, multiplying strawberries or blueberries in TC under LED lights can be a great way to reduce the production space needed for clean healthy clones.
How we acclimate could also add efficiency to the process
We examined the difference in acclimating strawberries as runners versus tissue culture clones. Grown under identical conditions in aeroponics, plants grown from runners (top) had significantly smaller leaf canopy.
Above: The plants grown via strawberry runners (left), also showed reduced root biomass compared to tissue culture clones (right) which had larger leaf area and increased root biomass leading to healthier plants. A bonus is that the number of potential fruiting trusses emanating from multiple meristems can be estimated and managed in controlled conditions.
Which substrate?
Substrates for large scale strawberry or blueberry production are an important consideration as soil can present problems with disease. Ideally, for strawberries consider a peat based substrate and acclimation in a CEA environment under red and blue LEDs to boost root biomass, leaf expansion and produce uniform yields. Ultimately it will come down to price, consistency and drainage. We are here to help guide you through the best options.
Quality versus size is all about balance
Breeding the best quality berries in TC and CEA is much faster than conventional methods and can help to safely store and retain important genetics. Breeding is a continuous process of development and testing, followed by uniform production in CEA. But, once you hit the target you could have a potential winner for the consumer and farmer. The fruit on the right was much sweeter (you have to take our word for it as there wasn’t a Brix measurement!) and would definitely make it onto our Pavlova.
By Janet Colston
Contributing writer for Urban Ag News
Co-founder of The Functional Plant Company