U.S. Strawberry Yield Rose 2,755% Since 1960: Breeding and Production Technology Drove a Little-Known Green Revolution

U.S. strawberry yield increased dramatically after 1960. A 2024 Nature Communications study combined pedigrees, SNP genotypes and historical phenotypes to quantify genetic gains in the California breeding population.

The 2,755% national yield increase was not breeding alone

FAO data show a 2,755% increase in U.S. yield since 1961 while harvested area declined 17%. The national production shift reflected both improved cultivars and production advances, including bare-root propagation and widespread soil fumigation.

Separately, historical breeding-value models estimated enormous genetic gains within the California population: 2,974–6,636% for yield, 1,454–3,940% for fruit count, 228–504% for fruit weight and 239–769% for firmness.

Day-neutral flowering was the key breakthrough

Breeders introgressed photoperiod-insensitive alleles from Fragaria virginiana subsp. glauca, leading to day-neutral cultivars that enabled year-round production and approximately doubled yields.

Gains came with trade-offs

Selection increased yield, weight and firmness while total soluble solids, titratable acidity and anthocyanin concentration declined. Susceptibility to Verticillium wilt and Phytophthora crown rot also increased over the Green Revolution period.

Methyl bromide soil fumigation, widely used from 1960 to 2005, suppressed soil-borne disease and likely relaxed selection pressure for genetic resistance. Modern breeding now has to recover disease resistance while retaining the yield and quality gains.

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Reference

• Feldmann MJ et al. Genetic gains underpinning a little-known strawberry Green Revolution. Nature Communications. 2024;15:2468. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46421-6