FRUITS
The of Their Labor RESEARCHERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA CREATE TASTIER, HARDIER CROPS SCIENTISTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA’S Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) are quietly working year-round to improve the flavor and farmability of some of the state’s top crops. NATURE’S CANDY Florida currently ranks as the nation’s second-largest strawberry producer (after California) – but it took a long time to reach that status. Launched in 1948, the UF/IFAS strawberry breeding program has introduced 15 varieties that are welladapted to local conditions, including its first highly successful variety, ‘Festival,’ in 2000. The strawberrygrowing industry now spans about 11,000 acres in central Florida. 22
“‘Festival’ kind of changed the landscape of the industry,” says Dr. Vance Whitaker, associate professor of horticulture at the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Wimauma, whose team works to pinpoint the compounds that give strawberries their unique flavor. The tricky part, Whitaker says, is to create new varieties that satisfy both farmers and consumers. Growers are looking for a not-toodense plant and a long-stemmed
FLORIDAGRICULTURE | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020
berry that can be easily (and more cost-effectively) harvested by hand. They also want plants that fend off diseases caused by humidity, rain and temperature fluctuations in subtropical winters – this is also appealing because fewer diseases merit fewer pesticides. Customers demand fresh-looking fruits with appealing color and flavor. “In our seedling field now, it’s not too difficult to find a lot of seedlings that have nice, firm strawberries that will ship well from Florida throughout the country,” Whitaker says. “But if that strawberry’s missing a particular disease resistance or flavor, then it goes on the trash pile.” To get it right, he adds, “You just
PHOTO: ISTOCK.COM/ANIL AKKUS
By Nancy Henderson
