New Variants of Strawberries Announced at BerryQuest International 2022

Article by: Hari Yellina

Strawberries will soon be available in pink and white; these colours are no longer the sole purview of marshmallows, Minties, and musk sticks. With the help of their distinctive colouring, the Australian berry industry today introduced two new types to the market. Now all the sector needs are growers to produce them. According to reports, the strawberries had an overpowering strawberry aroma and a distinct appearance from the beloved berry’s stereotype. According to information that has been made public, the animals are officially known as Pink and White. They have been particularly bred for the Australian environment and have greater overall quality. The Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and Hort Innovation worked together to breed the strawberries (DAF Qld).

At BerryQuest International 2022, the Australian berry conference taking place this week on the Gold Coast, the announcement was made. Executive director of Hort Innovation Brett Fifield on Australian store shelves, Pink and White strawberries stand out from everything else. “They should be outstanding because they are. They represent the results of years of study, field testing, consumer preference research, and industry involvement “Fifield stated. True to their name, the new White strawberries are delicious. They are dazzling white on the inside. They have a white exterior with a little pink blush and red seed flecks. The Pink strawberries have a white interior and a peach pink outside.

In order to commercialise the cultivars, encourage producer acceptance, and carry out marketing initiatives to enhance consumer awareness, Hort Innovation and DAF Qld are looking for an appropriate partner. The new strawberry types are the first “novelty” kinds created and released under the collaboration. More than 40% of strawberries sold at retail outlets across the country, according to DAF Qld project leader Dr. Jodi Neal, were created through research conducted by the organisation as part of its collaboration with Hort Innovation. In the last ten years, we have created 16 strawberry kinds that are specifically suited to the arid Australian environment and the tastes of Australian consumers, according to Dr. Neal.

The grower-owned research and development corporation, which was co-funded and supervised by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) Queensland, created the cultivars utilising grower levies and funding provided by the Australian government. The Horticulture Statistics Handbook estimates that 77,751 tonnes of strawberries with a market value of $417.2 million were produced in 2020–21. Eighty-eight percent of this domestic production went to the fresh market, seven percent (5417 tonnes) went into processing that was primarily for preserves, and five percent (3578 tonnes) went overseas. Strawberry production is mostly concentrated in Queensland (42 percent), Victoria (36 percent), Western Australia (11 percent), and South Australia (7 percent), with lesser amounts also produced in Tasmania and New South Wales.