The National Strawberry Sustainability Initiative - 2016 NASGA Meeting

The National Strawberry
Sustainability Initiative
A Public-Private Partnership
Achievements and Outcomes
North American Strawberry Growers Association
January 7, 2016 – Savannah, GA

NSSITeam
Functions under the UA System Division of
Agriculture, Center for Agricultural and Rural
Sustainability
• Program Director: Curt Rom
• Co-Director, Finances: Ron Rainey
• Program Manager: Heather Friedrich
• Program Information Specialist:
Luke Freeman
• Project Management Team:
– Jennie Popp
– Marty Matlock

NSSI Funding
Grantee
Grantee
Grantee
A Public-Private
Partnership

Why start the NSSI?
The US Strawberry Story

An Example: The Rise and Fall of
Arkansas Strawberries
(borrowed from J. R. Clark)
‘Cardinal’
• Selected 1969
• Released 1974
Program cancelled 19920
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
Acres
AR Harvested Acreage 1970-2000
Arkansas Strawberry Heritage
Halcyon Days: 1920s – 1940s
~1930: >38,000 acres
2nd - 3rd in US Production

What happened to AR Strawberries
• New environmental challenges
– Monoculture Failure:
• Pests and diseases with no good controls
• Lack of labor
• AR strawberries were at market at mid-season
– Price point depression
• Long transportation distances to market
– Insufficient transport infrastructure
– High spoilage rates, low quality
• Competition for land use

US Strawberry Profile
US is leading producer of strawberries in the world, producing
30% of global supply.
• In 2012 the US produced almost 1.4 MetricTons
• Among most valued US Fruit Crops
– >$2.51b FGV (2013)
– 90% of the crop is fresh market; 10% processed or frozen
• CA: $1.8b from 38,600 acres (approx. 92% of US crop)
• FL: $362m from 9,900 acres (approx. 6% of US crop)
• ~15% of US crop is imported (primarily Mexico)
• 11% of US crop is exported (primarily Canada)
• 75% of the crop harvested between April and September
– 90% harvested between January and September

World Strawberry Production
y = 34.798x + 495.57
R² = 0.9411
y = 110.33x + 2069.2
R² = 0.9532
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
4,500
5,000 1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Production–mT(1000)
Year
United States World 187% Increase
231% Increase

US Strawberry Production 2013
STATE Harvested acres (%)
Yield
Million Pounds (%)
Total 56,140 (100%) 3,015 (100%)
California 38,600 (69) 2,764 (92)
Florida 9,900 (18) 183 (6)
Oregon 2,000 (3) 21 (0.6)
Washington 1,500 (3) 10 (0.3)
North Carolina 1,500 (3) 20 (0.5)
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1381

US Strawberry Acreage
R² = 0.5996
R² = 0.9158
R² = 0.81
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
HarvestedLand(acres)
Year
US Total
CA
FL
NC
OR

Opportunities for US Strawberries
• Governmental agencies and private corporations estimate strawberry consumption
in the US will continue to increase at a rate of ~7% or more for the next decade
– Growth in acreage during past 25 years has been 1-3%/yr
– Growth in yield past 25 years <6%/yr
– Market growth exceeds current production; market filled by imports
• Strawberry production used to be an important local crop in many states
– Currently, there is economic strawberry production in almost every state
– The “other” 48 states only produce ~2% of national crop
• Tremendous innovation in cultivars and production technologies in past 3 decades
– Day length insensitive
• June-bearing short-day requirement changing
• Everbearing types
• Day neutral types
– New production systems; plasticulture, high tunnels, greenhouse, hydroponic

Is the US Strawberry Production
System Sustainable?

Strawberry Sustainability Challenges
• Loss of local and regional production in the US
– Loss of local agricultural economy and rural viability/vitality
– Loss of local markets and impact on local economies
– Long transportation distances from farm to fork
• Centralized, monoculture production
– Problems with weeds, pests
– Problems with product harvest, labor
– Increased chemical, water, energy inputs in concentrated production region
• Significant off-shore imports to satisfy consumer demand; creates price
depression and competition
• Loss of methyl bromide as soil fumigant
• Water resource limitations (esp. Ca), and workforce/labor issues
• Large environmental footprint

Strawberry Sustainability Challenges
• Short shelf-life (7-10 days from harvest)
– ~36% of harvest crop is lost in the
supply chain
• ~28% lost at retail or consumer level
– Estimated product loss $1.14b
• Potential for Food borne illness
– Major outbreaks in 2011, 2012

Can Strawberries be more
Sustainable?
Environmentally, Economically, With
Social Equity
That was asked byWalmart
Save Money
Live Better

The Birth of the NSSI Program
• A phone call of inquiry on November 2012
• Program was selected and launched in February
2014; Phase 1
• Renewed in 2015; Phase II

The NSSI
Grantee
Grantee
Grantee
A Gift-Grant
• Phase 1
• $3m funding
• Phase II
• $1.25m funding

Objectives and Goals of the NSSI
Objective: Improve Strawberry Sustainability by:
Increasing regional/local production to compliment and
strengthen national production centers
Improving environmental sustainability by reducing chemical
and energy inputs in production, harvesting, handling and
distribution
Improving economic returns to growers and increase the value
of strawberries throughout the supply chain
Reducing crop losses both pre and post harvest
Developing metrics for sustainability and food safety in the
supply chain

Goals of the NSSI
This was an Outreach and Implementation Program
Focus of the NSSI is Impact and Systemic Change
through
Technology Transfer and Field Innovation
From the Laboratory to Demonstration to Practice

Submissions
Phase I: 2013-2014
• Letters of Intent: 72 submitted; 33 states and one US territory
• Proposals received:
– 56 completed, accepted; requesting $7.2m; 21 states represented
• Proposals Funded: 20 proposals, $2.64m
– Programs in 13 states funded
• Mid-Atlantic (1), South (12), North Central (2),West (5), Northeast (0)
• 2 1890’s schools; 1 1890 partnership; 1 partnership with Native Tribes
Phase II: 2014-2015
• Letters of intent: 17 submitted
• Proposals received : 14, $2.95m requested, 11 states
• Proposals funded: 6 proposals for $1.1m
– Mid-Atlantic (2), Southeast (4)

Project Outcomes and Impacts
In 2013, the NSSI was among the only sources of
funding for applied, field-level outreach, technology
transfer and innovation in specialty crops
• Adoption of technologies at local/regional levels and
increase production in those sectors
• Improve delivery of fresher, higher quality, safer
product to consumers
• Reduced environmental impacts from production
• Ability to assess the environmental, economic, and
social sustainability of the production system

• Phase I closed in June 2014
• Project outputs and impacts highlighted in the
e-book:
“Moving the Needle:
Accomplishments of the National
Strawberry Sustainability Initiative”
strawberry.uark.edu/nssiweb.pdf

NSSI Phase I Accomplishments
• UMN Cold Climate Strawberry Production
e-learning tool at inkling.com/store/book/cold-climate-strawberry-farming-1st/
• NCSU Strawberry Diagnostic Key
diagnosis.ces.ncsu.edu/strawberry/

An interactive strawberry budget and management tool
cars.uark.edu/ourwork/Specialty-Crop-Production-and-Marketing/

Patent of Rutgers
developed cultivar
‘Rutgers Scarlet’TM
Expansion of strawberry
production areas in
TX, KS, AR, NE Ryan Pekarek in Dwight, NE. Photo by
Katie Pekarek
Russ Wallace of TAMU shows off high
tunnel in Lubbock, TX.
Pete Nitzsche with ‘Rutgers Scarlet’TM. Photo
by Bill Hlubik.

Greenhouse hydroponic
production in AR, AZ, NE
Reduction of irrigation
water use in CA
Cheiri Kubota and Mark Krogel at U Arizona. Photos by Luke Freeman.
Irrigation studies in Ventura County, CA. Photos by Oleg Daugovich.

Practices to improve soil health in CA, NC, FL
cover crops, compost, beneficial inoculants
Compost for disease suppression. Tom Gordon, UC
Davis.
Sustainable soil management with cover crops,
compost, and beneficial inoculants. Michele Schroeder-
Moreno and Amanda McWhirt, NCSU.
Cover crops for weed management. Carlene Chase, UFL.

Phase II
From Demonstration to Practice

NSSI - Phase II
• Launched in April 2014, completed June 2015
• $1.25million in grant funds
• Required direct grower involvement and on-farm
work with collaborators
• Required end-use assessments and input
• Funded 6 projects
– 5 continuing and expanding projects
– 1 new project

Phase II closed in June 2015
• Project outputs and impacts highlighted in the
new e-book:
“Success in the Field:
Accomplishments of Phase II of
the National Strawberry
Sustainability Initiative”
strawberry.uark.edu/NSSIphase2.pdf

NSSI Phase II Accomplishments
Information generated on organic strawberry production for the
Southeast
cultivars, cover crops, pest mgmt., weed mgmt.
Cover crop trial in Citra, FL. Photo by Carlene Chase. Growers assess the performance of strawberry
cultivars in on-farm research at Frog Song Organics in
Hawthorne. Photo by Damion Graves.

• Increased knowledge of high tunnel and greenhouse
strawberry production in AR, FL, NC,TX
• Increased acreage and consumer demand for local
strawberries inTX
Tour of the greenhouse facilities at North Arkansas Community
College where soilless strawberry production is being demonstrated.
Photo courtesy of Elena Garcia.
High tunnel strawberry production is demonstrated at the Texas
A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Lubbock. Photo by
Russ Wallace.

Implementation of wireless sensor networks for irrigation
management and frost protection in MD
John Lea-Cox discusses wireless sensor
networks for strawberry production. Photo
by Bruk Belayneh.
Wireless sensors at Shlagel Farms in Waldorf, Maryland monitor soil moisture and
air temperature allowing for real-time monitoring. Photo by Bruk Belayneh.

• Sustainable soil management practices implemented in NC
cover crops, compost, inoculants
• Production budgets developed for organic, sustainable, and
conventional strawberry production (NCSU)
J.R. Odom with plug inoculated with mycorrhizae and
vermicompost. Photo by Amanda McWhirt.
Production Budgets at
strawberries.ces.ncsu.edu

• ‘Rutgers Scarlet’TM sold to growers in 22 states, and
attracted mass media attention in Mid-Atlantic
• New cultivars for Eastern US trialed on 13 farms
New Jersey strawberry grower Jim Giamarese discusses
Rutgers strawberry varieties with filmmakers. Photo by
Richard Weidman.
Project leader Peter Nitzsche of the Rutgers New Jersey
Agricultural Experiment Station shows off a field trial of Rutgers
Scarlet strawberries. Photo by Bill Hlubik.

Media
Engagement and use traditional and new/social media
was a requirement of each project
• Created significant media use
– Project Leaders’ Listserv
– ProjectWebsite
– Project Blog
– Project Social Media
• FB,Twitter,YouTube channel
– Photo repository - Smugmug

strawberry.uark.edu
New website to showcase
outcomes and results of the
26 NSSI projects

Overall Outcomes of NSSI
The NSSI has been the largest funded national strawberry
research and outreach program in recent history
• 6,805 growers reached with information on sustainable
strawberry production
• 1,960 extension agents reached
• 3.92 M consumers reached
• 87 workshops and field days
• 169 presentations given
• >25 hours of instructional and informational videos
• 117 on-farm trials
• 1,250 acres under new, improved management

Additional NSSI Outcomes
• NSSI Projects have led to more than 40 other
funded complimentary projects valuing >$2m to
strengthen US strawberry production
• Development of SCRI Planning Grant for US
Strawberry Industry Competitiveness and
Sustainability

Next Steps – Continuing Progress
National Strawberry Sustainability and Competitiveness Project
• USDA Specialty Crops Research Initiative
– A Planning Grant
– Capitalize on progress, achievements, momentum and the capital of the NSSI
– Further improve
• Economic Sustainability
– Improved production systems and marketing
– Reduced product loss
• Environmental Sustainability
– Production systems and Pest management systems
• Expanded Outreach and Social Impact
– A national grower assessment and needs survey
– Creating a national strawberry project advisory board
– States Committed: AR, AZ, CA, FL, MD, MO, MN, MS, NE, NJ, NC, PA,TX,

We Need YOUR Help!
As we develop the national strawberry specialty crops research
program, we will need growers to serve in one of three
capacities;
1. Serve as an Advisory Committee member
2. Serve as a project reviewer and consultant
3. Serve as a project collaborator, research/demonstration
site
The project will be developing a National Strawberry
Production Assessment Survey; we need your participation.
For more information contact: sberries@uark.edu

Thank you for your attention

Outputs of Year 1
From the Lab to the Field
• 20 Projects in 13 states
• >100 sponsored workshops and field days
– Attended by more than 5000 growers and 1600 extension
workers and consultants
• >60 technical and scientific presentations
• >60 you tube videos with more than 25 hours of
instructional media
• >300,000 consumers reached by NSSI Information
• >250 traditional news media releases

Outcomes of Phase 2
• 2,090 growers reached with information on
sustainable strawberry production
• 394 extension agents reached
• 3.9 M consumers reached
• 33 workshops and field days
• 97 presentations given
• 48 on-farm trials
• 80+ acres under new, improved management

The National Strawberry Sustainability Initiative - 2016 NASGA Meeting

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