Florida Strawberry Harvest Begins With New Varieties Covering Over Half of the State’s Acreage

Florida strawberries are hitting markets now. The growing area spans 16,000 acres across Hillsborough, Manatee, and Polk counties. Picking starts in early December and continues until late March. This $500 million industry depends on timing. Two new types, Ember and Encore, now blanket more than half the strawberry fields statewide.

Last year, Ember made up 8% of planted fields and Encore covered 5%. This season, Ember jumped to 35% and Encore rose to 18%.

"They (Ember and Encore) have robust plants, which help produce high early yields in November and December and excellent overall flavor and shelf life," said Vance Whitaker, according to Naples Daily News. "They also have better overall disease resistance than previous varieties, making them more sustainable to grow for our farmers."

Whitaker works as a professor at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and breeds strawberries. The third most popular type is Florida Brilliance, which takes up 27% of the state's strawberry acreage.

About 88% of the strawberry types grown here came from UF/IFAS scientists. The breeding program launched in 1948 and has produced dozens of cultivars that now grow worldwide.

A white strawberry with a pineapple-like smell called the pineberry will appear in stores this season. Whitaker developed it about five years ago, and growers now plant pineberries on roughly 325 acres.

"The pineberries will be present once again this winter in stores carrying Florida strawberries," Whitaker said. "But they are still a niche product, as many people are still not familiar with them."

Strawberries aren't sold by specific type names at most stores. Shoppers should look for berries marked as grown in Florida or ask produce managers where the strawberries came from.