THE INDUSTRY - Facts, Figures and Information....

General industry information

Strawberries were first commercially grown in Victoria during the 1950's. The Yarra Valley was the first place to experience strawberry production as migrant families begun to settle on the outskirts of Melbourne, particularly in those areas with rich fertile soils.

Today there is close to 100 strawberry farms within Victoria, and they spread from Portland in the south west to Wodonga in the north east. However the majority of farms, 75 percent, are still located within the Yarra Valley, a short 45 minutes from Melbourne's CBD.

Figure 1. Locations of strawberry farms throughout Victoria

Back in the 1950's strawberries were only distributed through the Melbourne market, that was until Gordon Chapman took the first consignment of strawberries to the Sydney market on the back of a basic flattray tuck in the 1960's.

Times have changed and now strawberries are distributed to markets throughout Australia's eastern seaboard and exported throughout Asia. But unlike in the 1960's strawberries are now transported in refrigerated trucks so they reach consumers in perfect condition.

Table 1. Strawberry production in Victoria

Number of farms	Number of plants (millions)	Area (ha)	Production (tonnes)	Average packed yield (punnets per plant)	Industry value (million $)
95	27	230	25, 000	3.5	150

Through the production of different varieties the Victorian strawberry industry is able to supply fruit to the Australia market for 8 months of the year begining in October.

Table 2. Supply of Victorian strawberries through the year

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec