1. Annualized Strawberry Production in New England
February,
Matthew Kochka
Masters Candidate, Plant Biology
University of New Hampshire
Researcher: Masters student Matt Kochka, under the advisement of Iago Hale Assistant Professor of Specialty Crop Improvement, Department of Biological Sciences, COLSA, UNH.
The research, in a nutshell: Annualized plasticulture strawberry plots are being grown side-by-side with matted-row berries. We are looking at the relative economic performances of these systems, as well as the potential of cover crop genetics to help manage nematode problems in strawberries.

2. Matted Row Production System
The dominant system in NH
Materials: bare-root dormant crowns
Planted in Spring
1 year establishment
Wide plant spacing
2-3 years of harvest
Overwinter under
straw
This slide presents a general overview of the matted-row production system. Points to emphasize are:
1. This system entails an establishment year, during which no income is generated (and the field is occupied, preventing other uses)
2. Plants are grown 2-3 years in the same place, which allows for greater disease and pest build up

3. Plasticulture Production System
Dominant system in major production areas
Materials: green plug plants
Off-season establishment
Planted in Fall
1-2 years of harvest
Dense plant spacing
Overwinter under
poly row cover rowcover
Plastic mulch
This slide presents a general overview of the plasticulture production system. Points to emphasize are:
1. Plugs are planted in late August and harvested in June. Other crops can be grown in the period between summer harvest and fall planting.
2. Since there is no “lost” establishment year, berries can be moved every year without losing a harvest.

4. Is it worth it? Annual Plasticulture Perennial Matted-row Time ( )
Materials ( )
Opportunity costs ( )
Yield (~125% over 3 yrs.)
Disease risk ( )
Perennial Matted-row
Yield (~80% over 3 yrs.)
In our region, and at the scale of our farms, we do not the know real relative costs of these two systems. To answer this question, we are considering the following factors.
Time (labor): Though this is probably roughly equivalent between the two system, removal of overwintering material is much easier in the annualized system. On the other hand, because there is no “lost” establishment year, the annualized system requires more absolute labor-hours (but not necessarily more hours per unit production).
Materials: As of now, green plugs are roughly 3x more expensive than bareroot transplants; but the price of plugs might go down if a market is created in the northeast.
Irrigation costs are similar.
Plastic and rowcover costs are cheaper than straw.
Opportunity Costs: This is the big one. A entire crop cycle can be completed in the time it takes matted row strawberries to establish. Annual production allows for double cropping of the land. ANOTHER CROP (high-value) CAN BE GROWN IN THE SPRING/SUMMER BEFORE YOU PLANT STRAWBERRIES: head lettuce, spinach or basil: Gross~$40K /acre with one cropping
Yield: Plasticulture yields 3 out of3 years. Matted row yields 2 out of 3 years.
Disease risk: Working on an annual production system allows for better crop rotation, which is especially effective for soil-borne pathogens.

5. Matted Row Plasticulture Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Mulch/winter prep
Harvest berries
Harvest berries
Cultivate/plant
Renovate
Renovate
Spring prep
Spring prep
Matted Row
Expense
Income
Cultivate/plant other crop
Plant berries
Harvest berries
Harvest other crop
Harvest fall berries
Harvest berries
Harvest fall berries
Winter prep
Winter prep
Spring prep
Plasticulture
Spring prep
Here we present a 3-year calendar with estimates of relative income and expenses for the two systems.
One of the main objectives of our research is to assign values to these schematized income and expense lines. Even without exact values, though, the plots nicely illustrate that there are more income peaks in the plasticulture system. The plasticulture system is also more versatile, with the dotted lines indicating optional additions to diversify production and mitigate risk. Such options include planting another crop before planting strawberries and getting a fall harvest after renovation by using everbearing berries (day-neutral varieties).
Annualized plasticulture systems allow for at least one income event every year.
Expense
Income
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Winter
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter

6. Why rock the boat?
Matted-row is effectively limited to 2 years of production, most likely due to disease build-up
Annual production is shown to be more profitable in major regions
Straw prices are rising
Organic interest is growing
New growers + new land = weed pressure
Most new varieties (high producing, high quality) were bred for annual plasticulture systems
This slide states some of the reasons why we are undertaking this research, investing in characterizing an alternative production system to the one currently most widely practiced in the state. Our investment in this research reflects our conviction that the role of agricultural research programs in the public sector is to take risks that producers cannot afford to take, in an effort to identify practices that growers can adopt, confident in their potential to benefit their individual production systems.
Put another way, we see a gap in knowledge and we see potential for improvement. While there is evidence suggesting that there is a gain to be had with annualized plasticulture strawberry production, systematic side-by-side field trials that factor in economic considerations have not been conducted in our region. Further, in addition to production and economics, we are also taking pathology into consideration.

7. Research Comparative field trials Comprehensive economic analysis
Soil-borne pathogens
With all that background in place, we would like to briefly present our research activities:
"Comparative field trials”
We are comparing production systems side-by-side over multiple seasons at the Kingman Research Farm, with an additional layer of comparing varieties
“Comprehensive Economic analyses"
We are creating enterprise budgets by taking detailed management records of the two systems at Kingman. We are also conducting grower surveys to give such analyses context.
"Soil-borne pathogens”
Nematodes are implicated in the introduction of pathogens to plant roots, so we are investigating the potential of managing nematode populations via crop rotations.

8. Comparative field trials
Systems analyzed
2 day-neutral, 2 June-bearers
Spring planted matted-row, straw mulch
Late-summer planted plugs in plastic, floating row cover
Year 1 results
Annualized plastic nearly equaled matted-row (3 year average)
(based on grower survey and our harvest record)
We are conducting side-by-side comparisons between plastic and matted row. This is a novel experiment in NH.
Experiment: VARIABLES BEING TESTED: *we chose 2 CA varieties because that’s where all the improved genetics are coming from right now
2 systems:
Plasticulture (planted in early Sept, covered with floating row cover)
Matted row (planted in may covered with floating row cover)
2 cultivars in each system:
2 day neutral cultivars, San Andreas & Albion
2 june-bearers cultivars, Camarosa & Chandler
Larger trial to understand economics:
Our economic trial plots are much larger, to get better resolution of inputs (labor, chemicals, hard-goods)
Preliminary observations:
1. Even with extreme deer damage, our summer/fall yield was 90% of the yield of matted-row systems in NH, as found in our surveys.
2. Day neutral genetics can be used as a risk management tool. That is, if spring yields are not satisfactory because of a hard winter or other reason, one can recoup expenses with a fall harvest. Our first season of data also suggests that day neutral genotypes may not give lower spring yields.
Issues:
Deer
botrytis, low
leafhopper
cabbage looper

9. Economics Grower surveys Comparative field trials
1 hour interviews (5 of 12 completed)
Develop enterprise budgets
Comparative field trials
Larger scale plots to understand economic inputs
In terms of economics, the major differences between plasticulture and matted-row systems are:
Timing of labor: Planting in fall for plastic, spring for matted; and early harvest in June (and option of Fall) for plastic and June for matted.
Plant materials: Relatively more expensive plugs in plastic, dormant crowns in matted row.
Overwintering method: Straw is more expensive than plastic mulch and floating rowcover
Opportunity costs: In matted-row, the establishment period between planting and harvesting is lost income. In plasticulture, head lettuce, spinach or basil can be cropped between June and Fall (gross income ~$40K/acre with one cropping)
Unexpected similarities in costs
irrigation is similar
weed control may be similar
Obvious similarities:
pest control

10. Pathology Field samples Rhizoctonia Pythium Nematode
Field samples of strawberries were taken as a general survey, with a focus on diseased fields. We wanted to understand what could be the cause of the early loss of vigor commonly seen in matted-row systems. In all samples analyzed, we found nematodes and black root rot.
While nematodes are hypothesized to open the cortex for fungal pathogens, nematodes are not thought to be a problem in NH soils. This is very interesting, given the fact that every sample we took contained significant populations of nematodes.
Conventional nematode management techniques have utilized Methyl bromide and other fumigants. Since those are not generally considered options, suggestions for this state would be:
Frequent and proper crop rotation (possible in an annualized system)
Using greenhouse grown plugs (possible in an annualized system)
Planting in nematode-free soils (increased chance to rotate crops in annualized system)

11. Nematode suppressing gene trials (community genetics)
Winter wheat with nematode suppressing gene (not non-host)
Control method along with avoidance practices
Can we find similar genes
in other quick-turnover
cover crops?
In this greenhouse experiment, we are approaching the question of effective rotational cropping with an important nuance: Rather than just looking at the general effect on disease/pathogen bridging of a certain rotation crop species, we are investigating the potential of specific varieties within a rotation crop species to suppress plant disease.
In this experiment, two genotypes of winter wheat are being tested in the greenhouse for their ability to suppress the nematode life-cycle. Genotypically, the two varieties are nearly identical, except that one carries genes that are reported to suppress nematodes while the other does not. Such genes are potentially important because most crops host nematodes (i.e. there are very few nematode non-hosts).

12. Thanks John and Evan at the NHAES Iago Hale Becky Sideman Bill Lord
Giff Burnap, Butternut Farm
This is my final year of research.
I intend to write results by December of They will be published as:
A state of strawberry production booklet
A budgeting tool: enterprise budget calculator
A fact sheet
And a guide to plasticulture strawberry
I am still conducting economic interviews and would love to hear from you this winter.