This investment continues the development and commercial release of superior strawberry varieties for Australian environments, including temperate, subtropical and Mediterranean-growing regions. By ensuring that the Australian strawberry industry has access to improved, locally adapted strawberry varieties, this project supports a sustainable and profitable national strawberry industry.

The research team will build upon the successful pipeline developed in the previous iteration of the project National strawberry varietal improvement program (BS17000). The approach will be enhanced by incorporating genomic prediction and marker assisted selection methodologies. New and established germplasm exchange arrangements will ensure the program has access to the best international selections in addition to the superior material currently maintained by the DAFQ breeding team.

The Australian national strawberry industry has an estimated farm gate value of $417 million (2021/22 Australian Horticulture Statistics Handbook). Varieties developed by the Australian Strawberry Breeding Program currently capture 45 per cent of the national market and 90 per cent of the subtropical industry. These varieties currently provide approximately 11,000 jobs in production alone in Australia and are estimated to have a farm gate value of approximately $174 million last year.

Updates on this project are published twice per year in the Australian Berry Journal  which  can be read online or you can search the Resource Library for more information.