“Successful French strawberry season, despite the economic climate”

This year's French strawberry season was "generally positive", with "satisfactory yields and good fruit quality." The Strawberries Raspberries of France Producers' Association takes stock of the 2024 season.

Photo credit: © Dreamstime

A successful season despite the challenges
Overall, this year's French strawberry season was good, particularly in the spring, which enabled the expected yields to be achieved (80% of French strawberry volumes are produced in the spring and only 20% in the summer and autumn). "The weather in the spring was good for strawberries. Except for the second week of April, there was no excess heat, which would have sharply increased volumes and degraded the quality of the fruit. The peak was absorbed thanks to the cooperation of retailers and consumers. In May, poor weather conditions had a negative impact on yields, while in June a sudden rise in temperatures led to larger volumes being sold. The association of producers launched a call for action for consumers and supermarkets to deal with the situation, which helped avoid a cyclical crisis.

At the same time, the late arrival of summer fruits enabled French strawberries "to maintain their position. By the end of June, around 80% of the 60,000 tons of annual national production had been achieved."

Another month for the Gariguette
"The Gariguette season lasted longer this year. Usually, high temperatures in June force growers to stop production, but this year, many growers in the southwest of France continued the season until early July. In addition to the favorable weather conditions, the moderate pressure from pests this year has kept the plants in better health and ensured good quality fruit. Belgian strawberries are currently on the shelves, but the absence of a prolonged heatwave has enabled French strawberries to hold their own. The season will continue until October, with the Charlotte, Mara des bois, Cijosée and other round strawberry varieties."

The need to preserve the French origin
The Strawberries Raspberries of France Association continues to campaign against the francization of strawberries and raspberries, with the condemnation of an operator in August. The association is also tackling another threat: the maintenance of the Gariguette variety, the star of the French strawberry production, which CTIFL decided to discontinue in 2021. To secure the production and marketing of the Gariguette, which accounts for a fifth of the national volumes, the association began a process 3 years ago to become the variety's official maintainer. After 3 years of protocol aimed at selecting the best strains to maintain, the association is now waiting for the administrative protocol from GEVES (Variety and Seed Study and Inspection Group) to finalize the procedure.

Structuring the French raspberry sector
Regarding raspberries, which joined the association in January 2023, "the aim is to continue structuring the sector, which is still underdeveloped in France. We are seeing ups and downs in French production, so we are still 85% dependent on imported products. Given the instability of French production, supermarkets often prefer imported raspberries. As for prices, promotional actions on imported fruit often force French raspberries to fall in line, despite their much higher production costs."

Current state of research
On the research front, 2024 marks the end of the sampling phase of a project by doctoral student Marianne Doehler of the association, looking at the interaction between the landscape and populations of auxiliaries and pests. This 2-year thesis is now entering the phase of determining the presence of biodiversity in the environment and around strawberry greenhouses.

In 2024, the organization also began funding a research project aimed at finding an alternative to acaricides. The association will be working with the Invenio experimentation station in New Aquitaine and the Swiss Agroscope station. The Frais'Nat subsidiary's project to breed and release parasitoids against strawberry aphids in greenhouses will continue in 2025 to consolidate the initial results obtained this year.