Bright red strawberries Bright red strawberries

Advancement of Strawberries for Indoor Environments: Mapping Chemical Compositions, Genetics, and Growing Conditions for Premium Flavor

Generating Food Systems Solutions
Generating Food Systems Solutions

Program Contact

John Reich
Jreich@foundationfar.org

Dr. Devin Peterson

Dr. Devin Peterson

The Ohio State University

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $1,800,000

Total award amount   $1,800,000

Location   Columbus, OH

Matching Funders   PIP Consortium: AeroFarms, BASF, FFAR, Fluence, GreenVenus and Priva.

Grantee Institution   The Ohio State University

  • Food Systems

Can Controlled Environment Agriculture by Used to Create More Flavorful Strawberries?

“Strawberries have a range of flavors that exist in nature, but that are not readily available to consumers through current production methods,” said FFAR Scientific Program Director Dr. John Reich, director of PIP. “By using controlled environment agriculture, we can better understand the genetic and environmental characteristics that influence flavor.”

Why this research is important?

Food production continues to face ongoing challenges including climate change impacts and limited resources. In response to a changing environment, Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) offers a strategy to design optimal growing conditions to enhance desirable crop traits and to minimize use of water or other inputs. Currently, CEA focuses on leafy greens and herbs, as these crops are well-suited for indoor growing environments. Yet CEA has the potential to provide a broad variety of flavorful, nutritious crops.

This research uses CEA to determine strawberry varieties that can be grown indoors and develop varieties that will yield premium, novel flavors.

Dr. Devin Peterson
The development of strawberry varieties for indoor farming holds tremendous promise for the future of agriculture. This project is an unprecedented deep dive into the molecular underpinnings of strawberry flavor. Our multidisciplinary team of Ohio State and USDA researchers will discover ways to select and grow strawberries with superior flavor, completely indoors, providing a giant leap forward for the indoor farming industry. Dr. Devin Peterson
Founding Director of the Flavor Research and Education Center and Director of the Foods for Health Research Initiative at The Ohio State University

Details About this Research

Matching Funders

PIP’s participants include AeroFarms, BASF, Benson Hill, Fluence by OSRAM, GreenVenus and Priva.

AeroFarms_Logo_New
BASF
Benson Hill
Fluence
GreenVenus logo
Priva_Logo_landscape_PMS2168
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