Israel: 'hanging' strawberry plant wows Europeans

Tutlui, a strawberry that grows on a bed suspended in midair, is one of the most successful agricultural inventions of the past two years. The innovation is expected to change the way this veteran yet problematic crop - a vegetable that is actually a fruit - is grown.

Strawberries are problematic because they grow in sandy soil, and are thus contaminated both by the sand and by fungi that grow because the strawberry rests exposed on the ground. The strawberry has also acquired a dubious reputation for using pesticides. In Europe, Israel's strawberry export market, pesticides are virtually a synonym for cancer.

The idea of raising the strawberry off the ground and growing it on detached beds (30-meter boxes suspended in midair inside greenhouses) came from agronomist Dr. Menachem Dinar, who until recently served as director of the vegetable development division of the Agriculture Ministry's plant protection service. The idea was very successful in the ministry's experimental fields, so it was launched on a larger scale.

Despite the huge investment necessary to convert the creeping strawberry to a hanging plant, growers who have made the change report business successes beyond all expectations. The good results stem firstly from an unbelievable increase in yield. A dunam of creeping strawberries yields six to seven tons of fruit, while the hanging version yields up to 12 tons.

Moreover, of the yield from creeping plants, only between 800 kilograms and one ton are export quality. In contrast, 3 to 3.5 tons of the hanging strawberries are export quality - and that is where the big money is.

Another advantage to the method is an easier harvest: Crawling on the ground and poking and prodding between the leaves is no longer necessary, making the harvest faster and more efficient.

Ami Sela of the Negev's Moshav Yesha, who converted his crops from tomatoes to strawberries, reports net income, after production and labor costs, of NIS 25,000 per dunam, compared to NIS 10,000 per dunam for tomatoes.

"The additional income stems from the cleaner, drier fruit, which is no longer affected by all sorts of rot and has a nicer shape," he said. "In addition, fruit exporter Agrexco has developed a new species, `Yuval,' with a more aesthetically-pleasing shape, and its export rates reach 85 percent, compared to 45 percent in other species. The hanging strawberry in closed greenhouses is also completely free of pesticides and doesn't even have to be washed. This strawberry is marked with the label `BioBee'."

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