-February 6,2019-
from Organic Produce Network
Organic strawberry acreage in California has risen to more than 13 percent of total strawberry acreage.
Overall the California strawberry crop acreage continues to decline but production is on the rise as newer varieties produce significantly more trays per acre than older varieties.
In 2017, there were 4,166 acres of organic strawberries in California against a total acreage figure of 36,387. Organic acreage represented 11.5 percent of the total, while organic production at 16.7 million trays represented only 8.1 percent of the 206 million trays that California sold. In 2018, there were 4,276 acres of organic strawberries, which represented 12.6 percent of the total devoted to organic strawberries. The 21.9 million trays of organic strawberries represented 9.8 percent of production.
So while total production grew by 9 percent, organic strawberry production jumped 31 percent and, in the same time frame, conventional strawberry production only increased by 7 percent.
The yield numbers were also striking as in 2017, the average acre yielded about 4,000 trays of organic strawberries with the yield per acre jumping to more than 5,100 trays per acre for 2018.
Other produce
Meanwhile sales of all organic fresh produce increased 8.6% to $5.6 billion last year, according to data from the Organic Produce Network (OPN) and Nielsen.
That strong growth in organic fresh produce dollar volume is in contrast to overall grocery store dollar sales that rose just 2%.
Blueberries were a huge winner, with sales up by one third.
In related news a survey of consumers by Earthbound Farm found-
•48 percent of all organic consumers say they’re open to any kind of organic product.
•People with kids at home are more likely than those without kids to buy organic (52 percent vs 41 percent).
•Not surprisingly Millennials, Gen Z and Gen X are more likely than Boomers to choose organic (upwards of 50 percent for the younger gens, and only 30 percent for Boomers).