807 HORTSCIENCE, VOL. 35(5), AUGUST 2000 Received for publication 30 Aug. 1999. Accepted for publication 4 Jan. 2000. We gratefully acknowl- edge the following for sharing their experience through conversations and/or reviews of the manu- script: Carlos Vicente, Juarez Betti, Rebecca Darnell, and Eric Bish. The cost of publishing this paper was defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. Under postal regulations, this paper therefore must be hereby marked advertisement solely to indicate this fact. 1 E–mail address: dkirschb@inta.gov.ar The strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa Duch.) was cultivated in South America long before the Spanish arrived on the continent. Native Fragaria chiloensis L. was domesti- cated over 1000 years ago by the Picunches in central Chile (Hancock et al., 1999). During the Spanish period of exploration and conquest in the mid- to late 1500s, F. chiloensis was spread throughout South America and major industries developed around Cuzco, Peru; Bogota, Colombia; and Ambato, Ecuador. European cultivars of F. ×ananassa were probably introduced into South America in the late 1800s (Folquer, 1986), and California cultivars in the 1960s. These rapidly replaced most of the traditional F. chiloensis plantings, first through introgression, and finally through pure cultivar plantings. Today, cultivars of F. ×ananassa are found in almost all South American countries, flourishing in tropical, subtropical, and southeastern South America, where the climate is strongly conditioned by fresh South Atlantic winds, with average temperatures ranging from 11 °C in July to 24 °C in January. The South American industry accounts for ≈4% of the total world strawberry production, but the strawberry plays important social and economic roles on the continent, since straw- berry farms employ ≈50,000 full- or part-time workers. Strawberries are a popular item in local markets and are an exported commodity (Cicare, 1999). This paper describes the strawberry industry in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia, and Ecuador. The first four countries are members of the Mercado Comun del Sur (MERCOSUR) or South American Free Trade Agreement, which is similar to the North American Free Trade Agreement. Brazil, Argentina and Chile are responsible for most of the South Ameri- can strawberry production, while production in Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Ecuador is less developed (Table 1). BRAZIL Brazil is the largest strawberry (morango) producer in South America (Table 1). Straw- berries in Brazil are a highly profitable crop, and are consumed fresh, frozen, or as pulp (frozen or dehydrated). The state of Minas Gerais leads the country in strawberry produc- tion with 29607 t and 1173 ha, followed by Rio Grande do Sul with 14511 t and 467 ha, and Sao Paulo with 10725 t and 444 ha (Santos, 1999b). Most of the strawberry growing area in Brazil is concentrated between latitudes 20° and 32°S (Santos, 1999b). Each year, the Brazilian strawberry indus- try utilizes ≈180 million runner plants annu- ally for fruit production. Most of the plantings are renewed annually. Runner plants are pro- duced by certified local nurseries or the fruit growers themselves, or are imported from Argentina, Chile (fresh plants), and the United States (cold-stored plants). Two to four rows of plants are set on raised beds (0.20–0.50 m high) through black plastic mulch. Plant dis- tances within and between rows are ≈0.30 m, resulting in densities of 65,000–80,000 plants/ha. Runners are planted from February (cool regions) to April (warm regions). Water requirements in strawberry plantings are met by sprinkler or furrow irrigation, although in southern states, such as Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, strawberry fields are watered through drip irrigation (Santos, 1999c; Vaz Ronque, 1998). The fertilizers most commonly used in Brazil are urea, calcium nitrate, normal superphosphate, potassium chloride, potas- sium sulfate, boric acid, zinc sulfate, and copper sulfate (Pires Ribeiro, 1999). Liming is a common practice to increase soil pH in Sao Paulo and Parana (Vaz Ronque, 1998). Imported cultivars are important in Brazil, but there is also a major, local breeding center, the Instituto Agronomico de Campinas (IAC) at Sao Paulo. The most widely planted culti- vars are: ‘IAC Campinas’, ‘IAC Princesa Isabel’, and ‘IAC Guarani’, developed in Bra- zil; ‘Camarosa’, ‘Chandler’, ‘Oso Grande’, ‘Seascape’, and ‘Sequoia’, developed in Cali- fornia; ‘Dover’, ‘Rosa Linda’, and ‘Sweet Charlie’, developed in Florida; ‘Mioho’, ‘Reiko’, and ‘Toyonoka’, developed in Japan; ‘Tudla Milsei’, developed in Spain; ‘Korona’, developed in Holland (Passos et al., 1995; Santos, 1999a; Silva et al., 1998). The major pests and diseases found on Bra- zilian strawberries are spider mites ( Tetranychus urticae Koch), aphids [Chaetosiphon fragaefolii (Cockerell), C. thomasi (H.R.L.), and Aphis forbesi Weed], thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis Pergande), gray mold (Botrytis cinerea Pers. ex Fr.), anthracnose (Colletotrichum fragariae A. N. Brooks, and C. acutatum Simmonds), black root rot (Rhizoctonia solani Kühn), common leaf spot [Mycosphaerella fragariae (Tul.) Lindau], angular leaf spot (Xanthomonas fragariae Kennedy & King), leaf scorch [Diplocarpon earliana (Ellis & Everh.) F.A. Wolf], leaf blight [Phomopsis obscurans (Ellis & Everh.) Sutton], Verticillium wilt (Verticillium albo-atrum Reinke & Berthold), and leather rot [Phytophthora cactorum (Levert & Cohn) J. Schröt.] (Betti, 1994; Passos et al., 1995; Tanaka et al., 1994a, 1994b, 1995, 1996; Vaz Ronque, 1999). The Brazilian harvest begins in April and ends as late as December. The production peak occurs in August, while the highest prices are obtained in April (Fig. 1A). About 70% of the total fruit production is consumed fresh, while the rest is processed. Usually, growers send The Strawberry Industry in South America Daniel S. Kirschbaum 1 Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Famaillá, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA) CC 11 (4132) Famaillá, Tucumán, Argentina James F. Hancock Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1325 Table 1. Strawberry hectarage, production, and yield in some South American countries. Country Production area (ha) Production (t/year) Avg yield (t·ha –1 ) Brazil z 2643 62,766 24.3 Argentina y 1080 25,000 26.0 Chile x 700–900 18,000 22.5 Paraguay w 197 2,215 11.2 Uruguay v 180 2,160 12.0 Bolivia u 180 600 3.4 Ecuador t 50 500 10.0 z Source: Santos (1999b). y Source: Kirschbaum (1999a). x Source: Gambardella et al. (1999). w Source: FAO (1999). v Source: C.E. Vicente – INIA–Salto (Uruguay) (1998, personal communication). u Source: G. Lopez–Arce. Departamento Difusion del Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas (Bolivia) (1995, personal communication). t Sources: Consejo de Comercio Exterior e Inversiones del Ecuador (1999); FAO (1999). FEATURE