2017 ASHS Annual Conference

The Pacific Northwest (PNW) region of North America, including Oregon, Washington and British Columbia has been a major producer of strawberries, especially for the processing market. While the western PNW has an ideal climate for the production of the highest quality berries, historically it was far removed from the population centers in the East. As canning, and later freezing, technologies were developed, the industry grew as they had access to these distant markets. The industry has always focused on high quality fruit for processing. This starts by growing cultivars that were selected for their processing quality, including easy to “cap” as picked, solid, bright-red internal and external color, ability to maintain texture after being frozen and thawed, and outstanding intense flavor with high sugars and, as critical, high acids level, which stabilizes anthocyanins. Officially there are about 1,500 ha producing about 15 million kg of fruit. All of the processing production is in a perennial matted row system, with no fumigation. The main cultivars for processing are ‘Tillamook’, ‘Totem’ and ‘Hood’ and for the local fresh market the day-neutrals ‘Albion’ and ‘Seascape’ and the short-days ‘Hood’, ‘Rainier’, ‘Puget Crimson’, and ‘Shuksan’. The new cultivars ‘Charm’, ‘Sweet Sunrise’, and ‘Marys Peak’ are being extensively trialed. The industry has always relied on the willingness of buyers to pay a premium for PNW fruit ($0.15-0.25 more per pound) as the yields here are not competitive with production systems in California. As major portions of the food industry have increasingly been unwilling to pay this premium, the production and acreage has steadily declined from about 6,000 ha in the early 1990s to its current level. The last processing plant in BC closed around 2010 and since that time the province’s mix has changed to nearly 100% ‘Albion’ for the fresh market. More of the Washington industry has done a similar shift to supplying fresh fruit into the Puget Sound population centers. The long term trend is towards more fresh market. However, there will be a processing niche as along as large processors (i.e. premium ice cream) are willing to pay a premium for the best fruit and as long as strawberry picking and packing stretches out the season for laborers who move onto other crops in the region once strawberries are done.