June 2022 - 5

BERRIES
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
out of every single plant and how we can
best use the whole tube. "
With field-grown strawberries,
breeders are confident the berry will
succeed because they know how it will
be farmed and other factors during
the seven-year development phase, he
said. Developing varieties for indoor
production is an entirely different world,
Bjorn said.
With environmental factors including
rain, heat and pests easier to control
indoors, more effort can be focused on
flavor. Of the more than 100,000 unique
strawberry varieties Driscoll's produces
a year in California, Florida, Mexico and
Europe, only one or two may become
commercially successful due to disease or
productivity performance.
Breeding can also focus on berries that
deal well with climate change. Second
only to winegrapes, strawberries are
sensitive to changes in microclimates.
A small shift in a microclimate can
suddenly move one winegrape or
strawberry variety from being incredible
to being just average.
It doesn't take much - a fog shifting
several miles from Monterey Bay to the
Salinas Valley can change the quality
of what can be marketed as a Driscoll's
strawberry, Bjorn said.
New frontier
The appearance, texture and size of
a strawberry grown vertically indoors
isn't expected to significantly vary from
its counterpart grown in a field, he said.
Driscoll's wants to grow varieties that
are naturally sweeter and offer more
consistent delivery.
" Indoors, a variety can consistently
deliver what you communicate about
its sweetness, " he said. " It takes away
those ups and downs that naturally
happen outside. "
In its infancy, technology for growing
berries indoors is expensive and often
custom-made, Bjorn said. The work
Driscoll's has done with Plenty and its
indoor farming technology has been
successful and produced high-quality
berries, he said. In October 2020, Plenty
announced a round of investments from
companies that included Driscoll's,
Pods at Plenty's Laramie, Wyoming, facility where Driscoll's grows strawberries indoors. Photo: Plenty
kicking off a partnership to grow
strawberries year-round indoors.
" We had to learn a little from our
friends in Silicon Valley, " Bjorn said.
" You're on a technology curve that's
not on a straight line. It's growing
exponentially over time. "
In outdoor growing, a step change
could be growing raspberries in plastic
tunnels. Compare that to continuous
exponential improvements seen via
technologies coming out of tech centers
around the world, Bjorn said.
" We have had a lot to learn to get into
that world, " he said. " It's healthy because
it's made us think differently about the
rest of our business.
Organics aren't being considered
initially because Driscoll's plans to
market indoor berries differently and
promote elements of sustainability more
so than organic growing methods.
" Plenty's innovative farming system
is a game changer for the agritech
industry, " said Arama Kukutai, CEO of
Plenty. " Our vertical tower technology
unlocks industry-leading crop versatility
and unit economics by enabling indoor
growing year round. Our partnership
with Driscoll's is focused on building a
scalable solution to deliver peak season,
flavor-rich berries, at speed and with
maximum freshness, all closer to where
consumers live. We are incredibly
excited to open our first farm dedicated
solely to strawberries for customers in
the Northeast. "
" Berry growing is very high-touch and
requires a lot of attention, compared to
other growing, especially strawberries
and raspberries, " Bjorn said. " A grower
could lose a strawberry field in two
days. They just can't plant the berries, go
golfing or go on vacation and come back. "
Viewing vertical farming as
complementary to conventional growing
methods, Bjorn doesn't envision indoor
berries ever replacing field-grown.
" It's kind of like organics, which
became more complementary in
nature to our commercial strawberry
production, " he said. " It can attract a new
group of consumers. " FGN
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Growing strawberries indoors requires a different breeding approach. With lower
pest and disease pressure, breeders can focus more on flavor. Photo: Driscoll's
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June 2022

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