Facebook
X (Twitter)
Reddit
Pinterest
Tumblr
LinkedInPosts Tagged: Strawberries
New UC study estimates costs for growing coastal organic strawberries
A new study that can help growers and other readers estimate costs and potential returns for Central Coast organic strawberries was recently released by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Cooperative Extension and the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
“This study provides growers with a baseline to estimate their own costs, which can help when applying for production loans, projecting labor costs, securing market arrangements, or understanding costs associated with water and nutrient management and regulatory programs,” said Brittney Goodrich, UC Cooperative Extension specialist and study co-author.
The cost study models a management scenario for a 30-acre farm, 27 acres of which are planted to organic strawberries. The remaining acres are for the irrigation system, roads, and buildings. The study describes the cultural practices used in organic strawberry production and harvest, including land preparation, soil fertility and pest management, irrigation and labor needs.
The 20-page study shows costs for each operation, material inputs and costs, and cash and non-cash overhead costs in a variety of formats for one production and harvest cycle. A ranging analysis is also included and shows potential profits or losses over a range of prices and yields.
The new study, “2024 Sample Costs to Produce and Harvest Organic Strawberries,” can be downloaded from the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics website at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.
For a detailed explanation of the assumptions and calculations used to estimate the costs and potential returns for each crop, readers can refer to the narrative portion of each study.
Sample cost of production studies for many other commodities grown in California are also available at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.
For more information about the organic strawberry cost study, contact Mark Bolda, University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisor, at mpbolda@ucanr.eduor Jeremy Murdock in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at jmmurdock@ucdavis.edu.
New UC study estimates costs for growing strawberries on the Central Coast
A new study that can help growers and other readers estimate costs and potential returns for growing strawberries on California's Central Coast was recently released by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Cooperative Extension and the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
“This study provides growers with a baseline to estimate their own costs, which can help when applying for production loans, projecting labor costs, securing market arrangements, or understanding costs associated with water and nutrient management and regulatory programs,” said Brittney Goodrich, UC Cooperative Extension specialist and study co-author.
The cost study models a management scenario for a 50-acre farm, 45 acres of which are planted to strawberries, located in Santa Cruz, Monterey or San Benito counties. The remaining acres are for the irrigation system, roads and buildings. The study describes the cultural practices used in strawberry production and harvest, including land preparation, soil fertility and pest management, irrigation and labor needs.
The 19-page study shows costs for each operation, material inputs and costs, and cash and non-cash overhead costs in a variety of formats for one production and harvest cycle. A ranging analysis is also included and shows potential profits or losses over a range of prices and yields.
The new study, titled “2024 Sample Costs to Produce and Harvest Strawberries” can be downloaded from the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics website at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.
For a detailed explanation of the assumptions and calculations used to estimate the costs and potential returns for each crop, readers can refer to the narrative portion of each study.
For more information, contact Mark Bolda, University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisor, at mpbolda@ucanr.edu, or Jeremy Murdock in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at jmmurdock@ucdavis.edu.
Sample cost of production studies for many other commodities grown in California are also available at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.
UC Davis releases 5 strawberry varieties resistant to deadly fungal disease
Strawberries selectively bred for Fusarium wilt resistance and high yields
The University of California, Davis, is releasing five new strawberry varieties that are resistant to the soilborne disease Fusarium wilt, have high yields and improved fruit quality.
UC Eclipse, UC Golden Gate, UC Keystone, UC Monarch and UC Surfline will be available for sale to California nurseries from Foundation Plant Services in April.
Roughly 88% of strawberries grown in the nation come from California. Fusarium wilt is one of the most common reasons for crop loss and death and yet 55 to 59% of cultivars planted in the state since 2014 have not been resistant, according to UC Davis research.
This is the first release from the UC Davis Strawberry Breeding Program where all the cultivars have Fusarium wilt resistance. They are meant to replace susceptible plants on the market such as Monterey, UCD Royal Royce and UCD Valiant.
Monarch was also developed specifically as a prototype for mechanical harvesting – another first out of the breeding program, which dates to the 1930s and has released 72 patented cultivars over the decades.
“These provide the same yield or better and they are Fusarium resistant,” said Steve Knapp, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences and director of the UC Davis Strawberry Breeding Program. “They have a better collection of traits. They're superior.”
Knapp is a faculty member based in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis and shares the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources land-grant mission of the Agricultural Experiment Station.
Dangerous pathogen
Fusarium wilt didn't present much of a danger to strawberry crops until after the fumigant methyl bromide was phased out of use in the United States in 2005. But the pathogen had always been in the soil, and cases of wilt appeared a year later and increased over time, leading to concerns that a Fusarium wilt pandemic could destroy the crop in California.
“The disease has taken off fast and we need to react quickly to address the need,” said Glenn Cole, a breeder and field manager with the Strawberry Breeding Program.
Knapp said the program tries to “encourage people to consider things like disease resistance” and routinely invites growers and other experts to events showcasing research breakthroughs and improved cultivars.
Varieties for the seasons
The new strawberry varieties each have improved flavor and characteristics that allow for near year-round growing around California, where about 1.8 billion pounds of the fruit are harvested each year. Some of the cultivars are adapted for production in the southern part of the state while others do well under the long daylight hours of summer along the coast.
Eclipse, a “summer plant” cultivar, has the potential to increase grower profitability as it produces in the fall and winter, and yields during research testing were 54% higher than similar cultivars. “We expect this cultivar to have wide commercial appeal,” Knapp said. “Eclipse is going to eclipse them all.”
Golden Gate and Keystone are “day neutral.” Those type of cultivars grow throughout the summer on about 60 percent of strawberry farming acres in the state. The “short-day” plants Surfline and Monarch are resistant to Verticillium wilt and Phytophthora crown rot.
Surfline and Eclipse are firmer and promise longer shelf lives. Monarch provides growers with improved fruit qualities relative to other mass-producedcultivars and has characteristics needed for advances in mechanical harvesting, Knapp said.
Genetic tools
Breeding program experts have long been researching ways to improve strawberry cultivars so the crop can withstand pests, disease and other stressors. To find plants that had Fusarium wilt resistance, they obtained the DNA of thousands of plants in field studies. The scientists also developed genetic tools to screen the plants and identify the genes that have resistance to the Fusarium pathogen.
Knowing that information allowed the team to breed resistance into and develop new cultivars, at a faster rate than previous efforts. “These tools have allowed us to sweep out the susceptibility and bring in resistance,” Knapp said.
UC Davis awarded grant to advance strawberry breeding, genetic tools
The $6.2 million grant centers on protecting crops in the future
The federal government is awarding $6.2 million to University of California, Davis, to study how to use breeding and genetic information to protect strawberry crops from future diseases and pests.
The four-year grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) centers on addressing expanding and emerging threats to strawberries, a popular fruit packed with Vitamin C and key to the diets of many Americans.
Enhanced plant breeding, gene editing and other technologies will be key to ensuring strawberry crops are sustainable in the face of climate change and possible restrictions on chemical use, said Steve Knapp, director of the Strawberry Breeding Center and a distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Sciences.
“We need to have the technology so that we can deal with the challenges strawberries face around the world,” Knapp said. “Can we use genetic knowledge to change the DNA in a specific way to get the resistance we need?”
USDA funding
The grant award was one of 25 announced Oct. 5 by NIFA – an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture – as part of the Specialty Crop Research Initiative program, which addresses “key challenges of national, regional and multistate importance in sustaining all components of food and agriculture…,” the agency said.
The strawberry industry has lagged behind crops like tomato and wheat when it comes to genetic and technical innovation, Knapp said, and the grant signifies that “now they want the foot on the accelerator.”
A key priority is identifying whether changing DNA molecules can improve disease resistance and what technologies would be needed. Ensuring some genes are expressed while others are suppressed would be part of the analysis.
“We're trying to build in natural resistance to pathogens through the genes that already exist but could be modified with this knowledge,” Knapp said. “If we were able to edit a gene that improves disease resistance, people would want us to use that in breeding.”
The intent is to produce disease-resistant cultivars and identify better ways to diagnose, prevent and manage disease. The research project will also include an economic forecast evaluating the consequences of production changes and communicating with farmers about the laboratory advances, according to the grant proposal.
Gitta Coaker from plant pathology and Mitchell Feldmann, Marta Bjornson and Juan Debernardi from plant sciences are participating in the research, as are scientists from California Polytechnic State University, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Berkeley, University of Florida and USDA's Agricultural Research Service.
UC study breaks down costs of growing organic strawberries
Thinking about commercially growing organic strawberries on the Central Coast?
To help prospective and current growers evaluate financial feasibility, the University of California has estimated costs to produce and harvest organic strawberries for fresh market in Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey counties.
“This revise of the last cost-of-production study incorporates the newest in labor costs along with updates on cultural techniques,” said study co-author Mark Bolda, UC Cooperative Extension strawberries and caneberries advisor in Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey counties.
The new study, “Sample Costs to Produce and Harvest Organic Strawberries in the Central Coast Region-2022,” has been released by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources and UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
The analysis is based on a hypothetical well-managed organic strawberry farm using practices common to the region, but the costs, materials and practices shown in this study will not apply to all farms. Growers, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors and specialists, pest control advisers and others provided input and reviewed the methods and findings of the study.
“Current growers can use it as a baseline to compare with their own cost and returns estimates to make sure they have an accurate picture of the profitability of their organic strawberry enterprise,” said co-author Brittney Goodrich, UC Cooperative Extension agricultural economics specialist. “Many agricultural lenders use these studies as a baseline to determine whether to approve operating or investment loan requests from current and potential strawberry growers.”
The researchers assume a farm operation size of 30 contiguous acres of rented land, with strawberries are planted on 27 acres. The study includes a list of suitable strawberry varieties for the region, but no specific variety is used in the study. The crop is harvested by hand and packed into trays containing eight 1-pound clamshells from April through early October, with peak harvest in June through August.
The authors describe the assumptions used to identify current costs for production material inputs and cash and non-cash overhead. Ranging analysis tables show net profits over a range of prices and yields. Other tables show the monthly cash costs, the costs and returns per acre, hourly equipment costs, and the whole farm annual equipment, investment and business overhead costs.
The study's expanded section on labor includes information on California's new minimum wage and overtime laws.
“It's reached a wider audience this time through presentations of the material to students at Cal Poly [San Luis Obispo] and also a group of USDA officials at the California Strawberry Commission,” said Bolda.
“All of this just underlines the value of these studies to California growers and others working in agriculture,” Bolda said.
Free copies of this study and other sample cost of production studies for many commodities are available. To download the cost studies, visit the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics website at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.
This cost and returns study was funded by the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
For additional information or an explanation of the calculations used in the studies, contact Jeremy Murdock, UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, at jmmurdock@ucdavis.edu or UC Cooperative Extension's Bolda at (831) 763-8025.
