Strawberry Varieties: the importance of early yield

Geoff Langford

Our variety trials are underway and are showing up the importance of early yield.  Growers will have had major draw-down on finances, establishing the crop, spraying and fertilizing with no income coming in.  Cash flow is important in any business and so early fruit is a huge help in keeping the bank manager happy.

Ventana has been the go-to variety for early production and our data this year, based on the prices received up to November 2^nd, shows a return of $18.41/m of row.  Contrast this with Camarosa at $3.49/m and Monterey at $5.76/m.  The downside of course with Ventana is that it goes really small in December and that is where the other varieties make up ground and surpass Ventana in value.  This smaller size and higher picking cost of Ventana means it would be good to find a replacement.

We have two varieties we are looking at as potential replacements.  Surfline from University of California and Adelanto from California Berry Cultivars (CBC).  Both look to have potential as Ventana replacements for that early market.  We reckon we need to have sales of about 1 million plants to justify the importation costs so it is important to get the decision right.

There was a time when it was common practice for Northern growers to use low polythene covers to increase early production.  The downside of this is that it was an expensive business, the fruit often had major issues with white shoulders, and imports from Queensland meant that the prices didn’t really cover the cost of the extra effort.  It is important to recognize that too much early fruit means that the price demand equation quickly ruins the early advantage.

I have been impressed with the quality of the strawberries in our local supermarket this year so hats off to the growers supplying New World in Halswell.  I wasn’t prepared to pay the $9.99/250g chip or even the $7.99/250g chip the following week but I hope the grower was adequately rewarded!

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