New strawberry variety unlocks year round production potential

A hybrid strawberry, designed for glasshouse production, has been developed by seed specialists Elsoms. Strawberry grower and owner of Global Berry, John Downes, has been working with them to bring the variety into his businesses based in Lincolnshire and Somerset. Some of the reported benefits of the F1 Hybrid strawberry, named Soraya, are a better taste, lower carbon footprint of those imported, and more reliable, disease-free growing.

During December to March Global Berry are now supplying up to 12 tonnes of strawberries and the continuation of production throughout the year has opened up significant opportunities for his business.

Owner of Global Berry, John Downes said:

"Soraya is letting us compete at a price point similar to imported strawberries and get high quality British-grown fruit into the main supermarkets during the winter when this has not been possible before.

"I don’t believe there is any comparison when it comes to quality. These are beautifully sweet succulent fruit that everybody who tries them says are just as good as the best traditionally grown summer strawberries.

"Soraya is a game changer. It’s not just that it is now possible to grow strawberries through the winter, it is doing so in the knowledge we will always have the yields we need and at the quality required to command the best price.”

Specifically bred for both summer and winter production with particularly strong performance under LED lights, the variety has performed consistently well over three years of trials and is now proving itself commercially. Claire Taylor, Crop Specialist at Elsoms said:

"Soraya is potentially one of the most important developments in British strawberry growing for many years. Latest Defra figures show the UK imports around 65,000 tonnes of strawberries every year worth £214M with the majority of these brought in outside of the traditional strawberry production period.

"With imported strawberries often coming from over 2000 miles away, British winter-grown strawberries have reduced food miles and a lower carbon footprint, particularly when rainwater harvesting and renewable energy systems are used in their production."

Elsoms have been working with Dutch seed special ABZ to deliver three varieties of hybrid strawberries, along with Soraya they have also developed Estavana for outdoor gutter production and Rowena for open field production.

Claire further said:

"It’s quite an achievement to put British strawberries on the shelves of three main UK supermarkets over the winter. Response has been really encouraging from retailers and consumers alike and there’s now a real opportunity for UK growers to take a slice of the large strawberry import market to the benefit of all involved.”

You can find out more about Global Berry here