The quest to grow the perfect strawberry

Marion Regan's farm produces 5,000 tonnes of strawberries a year

Marion Regan is the fifth generation owner of Kent-based Hugh Lowe Farms, supplier to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships for over 25 years.

The farm produces around 5,000 tonnes of strawberries between April and November and that means using different farming techniques.

"We start with glasshouse production and then move into field-scale poly tunnel production. Then we're back into glasshouses. We use a range of varieties and plant types in order to get a good production curve - which hopefully meets the needs of the market."

After tennis, strawberries are perhaps the biggest attraction at the Wimbledon Championships. In fact, more than 38.4 tonnes of strawberries - that's almost two million strawberries - are consumed during the tournament every year.

Native strawberries have been grown in the British Isles for centuries. But the ones we eat today are the product of centuries of cross breeding, including a mix of North and South American varieties.

Almost two million strawberries are sold at Wimbledon every year

"The breeding effort is all about taking two good parents and crossing them. That is conventionally done by transferring the pollen of one onto another. Then selecting [the best] from the progeny," says Ms Regan.

But, as in much of the agriculture sector, advances in gene science have given producers new ways of improving their produce.

So Ms Regan, uses genetic markers which can speed up the search for improved varieties.

Genomic informed breeding, she emphasises, is not gene editing or genetic modification but rather looking at the genetic traits of strawberry varieties in order to pick the best ones from which to breed.

Such techniques were given a boost four years ago when scientists mapped the cultivated strawberry genome.

Now, breeders are using this knowledge to grow strawberries with new and improved flavours - even a savoury strawberry.

The knowledge might reverse a trend in recent decades where retailers have prized shape, size and uniformity of fruit and vegetables and neglected flavour.

Heather Smyth, an expert in sensory evaluation and flavour chemistry at the University of Queensland, says the food industry has been very good at identifying the smells that attract us.

"In the food industry, we extract those flavours or make synthetic versions of strawberry or raspberry and stick it into sugary tubes and lollies - tricking our brains into believing it's good for us."

But the focus has been different for fruit and vegetables.

"Flavour has been ignored over shape, size and uniformity - while junk food is being pumped up with artificial flavours to mimic what we should be loving. It's wrong."

Both increased yield and the use of fungicides have also been linked to a decline in strawberry flavour.

Heather Smyth says the size and uniformity of fresh produce has been prized above flavour

Prof Smyth's project promises to turn this on its head.

"The flavour chemistry of strawberries is really interesting. We have a good genetic profile of all of the varieties in our breeding program - and there is potential for strawberries to differentiate in the same way as apples."

Launched in 2022, Prof Smyth is part of a five-year project, led by Australia's Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF), that aims to build an advanced knowledge base of the genetics behind the strawberry flavour.

The team will be exploring texture, taste and aroma - and hope to develop genetic markers that will allow breeders to predict flavour in future varieties.

One possible outcome will be the development of a premium range of strawberries, with as much variety as apples, that will target high-income overseas markets.

Prof Smyth's team does not use gene editing - a powerful technique which allows researchers to create fruit with traits that would otherwise take decades using traditional breeding methods.

Genetic techniques could bring new varieties of strawberries to market

It promises fast tracking the development of crops with enhanced flavour, nutritional content, and resistance to environmental stressors such as drought or disease.

Gene editing - often referred to as precision breeding - is distinct from genetic modification in that the genetic changes could have occurred naturally or through traditional breeding methods - whereas genetic modification can involve moving genes across species boundaries.

In gene editing, specialised enzymes cut  DNA  at specific points along the  DNA  sequence. At these points,  DNA  can be added, removed or replaced in a precise manner.

• What is gene editing and is it safe?

Although some gene edited products are already available elsewhere in the world, there are as yet no gene-edited crops authorised for sale as food in the UK - but this may be set to change.

On 23 March, the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act was passed, legalising genetic editing in England. The hope is that this will help farmers grow crops which are more suited to our changing climate, while reducing the need for fertilisers and pesticides.

The Act applies to both plants and vertebrate animals (excluding humans) and some charities have expressed concerns.

"Any form of genetic engineering carries risks of unintended consequences - from unforeseen impacts on biodiversity in production, to unexpected allergens in products," said Friends of the Earth (FOE) campaigner, Kierra Box.

"Without proper risk assessment, traceability and labelling, it will be almost impossible for organic farmers and consumers to keep clear of the potential impacts of gene edited foods," she adds.

However, when it comes to crops, the reaction has been largely positive.

The National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) says precision breeding could allow us to replace the 59,000 tonnes of imported strawberries with homegrown varieties - that's almost a third of all strawberries consumed in the UK each year.

Abi Johnson's research is looking to extend the growing time of strawberries

Abi Johnson has worked as a strawberry breeder for over 20 years, most recently as project leader for NIAB.

"When I first started in strawberries, they were grown for just four weeks of the year. Now, you can grow them almost all year round. That's been achieved through breeding," she says.

However, she adds, it can take around eight years to get a new variety to the point that it can be released onto the market.

"We grow around 13,000 seedlings - and only select 1% of those. It's crazy. Every year we go through this process."

Ms Johnson's team have to try and predict what people will want in eight years time - whether that's climate resilience, plants suited to robotic harvesting or vertical farming, or flavour trends.

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Gene editing, she says, offers significant opportunities to support healthier, safer and more sustainable farming and food production systems.

NIAB is already leading a number of research projects, including flowering time variation in strawberries to extend the domestic growing season.

Back in Kent, Marion Regan thinks strawberries are only going to get better.

"Strawberries have such a range of flavour. You can get aromatic notes or much crisper notes. With gene editing, we could make some very interesting progress in traits that are highly prized by the market - particularly flavour and eating quality."