Strawberries are the most popular berry fruits among U.S. Consumers

The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded Michigan State University $649,980 under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) on February 1, 2026, to identify production conditions that maximize controlled environment strawberry production profitability and to identify high-yielding strawberry genotypes with enhanced resilience to high temperatures. The project runs through January 31, 2029, and is performed at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.

High temperatures constitute a major barrier to profitable strawberry production in both field and controlled environment systems, limiting industry expansion. The project objectives address this constraint by developing horticultural and economic resources on temperature control and pollinator use in greenhouse and vertical farm strawberry production, and by identifying genotypes resilient to heat stress that will facilitate future breeding efforts to develop cultivars suited to field and controlled environment settings. Research results will be communicated to strawberry stakeholders through existing extension programs. The award supports the foundational knowledge of agricultural production systems goal to determine how production systems alter the structure of microbial communities associated with plants and soils, and how such alterations affect plant nutrient uptake and utilization efficiency and resilience to environmental stressors that influence productivity and product quality.

The U.S. Strawberry industry is growing rapidly to meet the rise in consumer demand, with expansion occurring in both field and controlled environment (CE; greenhouse, vertical farm) systems. Warm seasonal temperatures and climactic phenomenon during the growing season continue to limit yield efficiency in field systems. Furthermore, greenhouse strawberry production is currently limited to cold winter months when cool growth temperatures can more easily be maintained. Thus, high temperatures constitute a major barrier to profitable field and CE strawberry production, as well as industry expansion in the U.S. The major objectives of this project are to: 1) identify production conditions to maximize CE strawberry production profitability, and 2) identify high-yielding genotypes with enhanced resilience to high temperatures. By developing horticultural and economic resources on temperature control and pollinator use in CE strawberry production, the outcomes of this project will provide a significant economic boost to the emerging CE strawberry industry. Furthermore, identifying resilient genotypes will facilitate breeding efforts in a future project to develop cultivars more resilient to high temperatures in field and CE production settings. Through existing extension programs, research results will be communicated to strawberry stakeholders. This project supports foundational knowledge of agricultural production systems goal to determine how production systems, can alter the structure of microbial communities associated with plants, soils, or other growing media; the ways alterations affect functions such as plant nutrient uptake/utilization efficiency; and resilience to weeds, insects, diseases, weather events, and other stressors that influence productivity and/or product quality.