OrganicFarmer_AugSep2018_e
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Organic<br />
Strawberry<br />
Nitrogen Management<br />
By: Gerry Spinelli and Sacha Lozano<br />
Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County<br />
Introduction<br />
Organic strawberry production value<br />
in the State of California was $93.6<br />
million in 2012 (Tourte et al., 2016) and<br />
organic food production is expected<br />
to increase in coming years (Klonsky,<br />
2012). In organic strawberry production,<br />
growers are rewarded by a premium<br />
price paid for their berries, but yields<br />
are always lower than in conventional<br />
production (for example, the cultivar<br />
Cabrillo is considered to have a yield potential<br />
of 10,000 boxes per acre in conventional<br />
production and 5,000 boxes<br />
per acre in organic production (Bolda et<br />
al., 2016 and Bolda et al., 2014). Together<br />
with pest management and irrigation,<br />
nutrient management is considered<br />
one of the main limiting factors of<br />
18<br />
Organic Famer August/September 2018
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