New partnership aims to improve indoor strawberry production

Added on 17 April 2025

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New partnership aims to improve indoor strawberry production

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Heritable Agriculture, Paul J. Mastronardi, and Consorzio Italiano Vivaisti (CIV) have partnered to develop a strawberry improvement program for greenhouse and tabletop varieties. This partnership marries the genetics and germplasm knowledge of CIV, the AI-driven breeding models and machine learning expertise of Heritable Agriculture, and the production assets, distribution network, and leadership in indoor strawberry production of Paul J. Mastronardi.

Addressing Challenges in Greenhouse Crop Breeding

Traditional breeding programs often take several years and millions of dollars to bring new cultivars to the market. Current strawberry breeding emphasizes field-growth and targets a limited number of traits. This results in inadequate control over essential characteristics such as taste, disease resistance, and productivity, which are key factors for successful greenhouse operations.