Year-Round Strawberry Production System in Hokkaido, the

Northernmost Region of Japan

K. Kawagishi1, A. Kawaguchi2, Y. Kakizaki2 and M. Goto3
1
Donan Agricultural Experiment Station, Hokkaido Research Organization, Hokuto,
Hokkaido 041-1201, Japan
2
Furano Branch, Kamikawa Agricultural Extension Center, Furano, Hokkaido 076-0033,
Japan
3
Iburi Agricultural Extension Center, Date, Hokkaido 052-0021, Japan

Keywords: everbearing strawberry, forced culture, spring harvest, summer-autumn

harvest

Abstract
In Hokkaido, strawberry harvest time is mainly in spring, and the winter is
cold. It is a traditional strawberry culture but this has decreased very much in the
other regions of Japan. In the 1990s, summer-autumn harvest culture using
everbearing strawberries was introduced to Hokkaido because the climate is cool in
summer. Forced culture was also introduced in the early 2000s because the market
required local strawberry supply during the winter.
In the Toyoura area, the strawberries have been produced and shipped
between late April and early July by spring harvest culture, from late June to
mid-November by summer-autumn harvest culture with everbearers, and from
mid-October to late July by forced culture. Around 25% of the production volume is
by the spring harvest culture, 10% is by the summer-autumn harvest culture, and
the remainder is by the forced culture.
In the Frano area, the strawberry farmers have also harvested and shipped
throughout the year by using summer-autumn harvest culture from early June to
mid-November, and by forced culture from early November to early July. In the
production volume, the percentage of summer-autumn harvest culture is about 60%
and the forced culture is 40%.
The major cultivars used in the forced culture are ‘Sagahonoka’ and
‘Tochiotome’ which were bred in the warmer region of Japan and have a short
dormant period. On the other hand, the cultivar for the spring harvest culture is
‘Kentaro’, which was released in Hokkaido and has a relatively long dormant
period.
Hokkaido does not have a very large share of the Japanese strawberry
market but it is one of the few regions to harvest strawberries throughout the year.
This is because the farmers can grow the berries by the combination of spring
harvest culture, summer-autumn harvest culture with everbearers and forced
culture.

INTRODUCTION
Hokkaido is located northernmost in Japan and has different strawberry
production systems from the other regions. In strawberry culture in Japan, plastic
greenhouses were developed in the 1960s and warm-air heaters also were introduced
(Fujishige, 1994). As a result, plastic greenhouse cultures of strawberry were established
in the early 1970s (Seyama, 2001). ‘Nyoho’ and ‘Toyonoka’, which have a short dormant
period and were major cultivars in Japan, were released in the 1980s. The forced culture
(harvest from November to May) spread from about this time and the open field culture
and semi-forced culture almost disappered from the Kanto region located in central Japan
to the Kyusyu region located in southern Japan (Seyama, 2001). In Hokkaido, the
greenhouse cultivation was introduced in the late 1970s (Takai, 1979) but the forced
culture had not been introduced because of severe temperatures and snow in winter. Even
now, the spring harvest under plastic greenhouse is a major culture in Hokkaido

Proc. 7th Intl. Strawberry Symp. 813

Eds.: Yuntao Zhang and J. Maas
Acta Hort. 1049, ISHS 2014
(Kawagish, 2006). Meanwhile, the summer-autumn (from June to November) harvest by
using everbearing strawberries was introduced in the 1990s because the climate is cool in
summer. And also, in the early 2000s, the forced culture was started partly because there
was a market to trade local strawberries during winter. As a result, year-round strawberry
production became possible in some areas in Hokkaido. We report two examples of
year-round strawberry production in Hokkaido.

CROPPING SYSTEM
Growing area by cropping systems in Hokkaido was estimated from the data of a
cultivar cropping survey in 2008 by the Agricultural Production Promotion Division,
Department of Agriculture, Hokkaido Government (Table 1). Plastic greenhouses were
used in every cropping system. Diagrams of typical cropping systems are shown in
Figure 1. We describe cultural methods of each cropping system as follows.

Spring (from April to July) Harvest System

This is the most popular cropping type in Hokkaido. Strawberry plants are
transplanted in August and are covered with mulch in autumn or spring after that. The
greenhouses are covered with plastic film in February, at the earliest, and shortly
afterwards, low plastic tunnels are placed over the plants. The strawberries flower about a
month after covering and are harvested after another 30 to 40 days. The leading cultivar
for the spring harvest culture is ‘Kentaro’, which was released in Hokkaido and has a
relatively long dormant period.

Summer-Autumn (from June to November) Harvest Type

Summer-autumn harvest culture by using everbearing strawberries began in
earnest from the late 1990s in Hokkaido. The farmers buy cold stored runners or nursery
pot plants from plant suppliers in early spring and transplant into plastic greenhouses
between approximately March and May. Some farmers transplant them in autumn. The
strawberries can be harvested around 25-30 days after flowering because they grow in the
relatively high temperature season. The farmers remove axillary buds and flower buds for
maintenance of plant vigor in the growing period.

Forced Culture (from October to July Harvest) System

The shipping within the planting year by forced culture using cultivars with short
dormant period began in around the early 2000s in Hokkaido, as in the other production
regions in Japan. The night cooling and short-day treatment had been attempted since the
late 1980s (Narukawa,1986; Hotta, 1987) and was introduced as one of control methods
of flower induction in the early 1990s (Fujisige, 1994). This method is used in Hokkaido
and the harvest starts in October at the earliest. It takes more than 50 days to harvest the
strawberries after the flowering in midwinter.

EXAMPLES OF YEAR-ROUND PRODUCTION BY COMBINATIONS OF

CROPPING SYSTEMS

Toyoura Area
They make a year-round production by a combination of spring harvest culture,
summer-autumn harvest culture and forced culture. The strawberries are produced and
shipped between late April and early July from spring harvest culture, from late June to
mid-November from summer-autumn harvest culture with everbearers, and from
mid-October to late July from forced culture. The cultivars are June-bearers in spring
harvest and forced cultures. ‘Kentaro’ and ‘Hokowase’ are used in the spring harvest
culture and ‘Tochiotome’ is used in the forced culture. The cultivars in summer-autumn
harvest culture are ‘Elan’, ‘Kareinya’, ‘HS-138’ and ‘Pechka’ everbearers. Cultivation
methods are soil culture in the spring harvest, and soil culture and elevated bed culture in
the other cropping period. Around 25% of the production volume is by the spring harvest

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culture, 10% is by the summer-autumn harvest culture, and the remainder is by the forced
culture. The area, production volume and production value of each cropping system are
shown in Table 2.

Furano Area
They make a year-round production by a combination of summer-autumn harvest
culture and forced culture. The strawberry farmers harvest and ship throughout the year
by using summer-autumn harvest culture from early June to mid-November, and by
forced culture from early November to early July. The cultivars of summer-autumn
harvest culture are ‘Hohoemikazoku’, ‘Pechka-prime’ and ‘Pechka-santa’, everbearing
strawberries. In forced culture, they use ‘Sagahonoka’, a June-bearing strawberry.
Cultivation methods are soil culture and elevated bed culture in the summer-autumn
harvest culture, and elevated bed culture in the forced culture. In the production volume,
the percentage of summer-autumn harvest culture is about 60% and the forced culture is
40%. The area, production volume and production value of each cropping system are
shown in Table 3.

PROBLEMS

Spring Harvest Culture

Strawberry farmers are mostly elderly in Hokkaido and about 200 kg strawberries
harvesting per are for about one month with the greenhouse management is very hard
work for them. They also need to avoid the early mites and diseases. It is expected to
develop new cultivars with disease and insect resistance and large fruits for undemanding
harvest during the peak.

Summer-Autumn Harvest Culture

The climate in Hokkaido is cooler than the other regions of Japan in summer but
sometimes the temperature exceeds 30°C, therefore it is difficult to make high-quality
strawberries without the appropriate management. In particular, the plants easily lose their
vigor because they are grown in greenhouses to reduce problems from diseases or quality
loss. The farming is labor intensive, including tasks such as the axillary bud and flower
bud removal for reducing the burden in order to improve vigor. There are many pests and
diseases in the hot season, and as a result the farmers have to use agricultural chemicals
more frequently. To solve the problems, it is hoped that new cultivars with heat tolerance
and disease resistance will be developed.

Forced Culture
A lot of fuel is needed during the winter season because the temperature
sometimes falls below -10 to -20°C. In recent years in particular, it has been more
difficult to make strawberries financially viable in winter because of the high oil prices.
Strawberry growth in Hokkaido is different from the growth in the other regions because
the day length is shorter in Hokkaido. Therefore, it is necessary to study suitable cultural
practices in Hokkaido.

CONCLUSION
Hokkaido does not have a very large share of the Japanese strawberry market. But,
the everbearing strawberry production is the highest in Japan because of the cooler
summer. And also, there is the spring production which has decreased in the other regions
of Japan, and the winter production which is common in Kanto and the south regions. In
this way, the year-round production by combining the cropping systems is possible in
some areas. Year-round production attempts have also been made in the Tohoku region
(Takahashi et al., 2009) located in south of Hokkaido. From now on, we have to exchange
information with the Tohoku region and need to provide high quality strawberries
particularly in summer and autumn. As with other regions, a decrease in the number of

815
strawberry farmers and the ageing have been problems in Hokkaido. A continuation of
high fuel costs for the heating is also a problem especially in the winter production. In
order to further improve the strawberry productivity, it is necessary to increase the
number of strawberry farmers by establishment of profitable production systems with
promotion of labor-saving and low-cost production. Researchers and extension advisers
are required to make the active information provision and support systems. We must
consider the year-round strawberry production system in Japan as a whole more than ever
before, taking advantage of future climate in all regions of Japan for reducing the
environmental impact.

Literature Cited
Fujishige, N. 1994. Horticulture in Japan: Strawberry. Asakura Publishing Co., Ltd.,
Tokyo.
Hotta, T. 1987. Forced culture by using night chilling treatment for nursery plants in
strawberry. Agri. and Hort. 62:622-626 (in Japanese).
Kawagishi, K. 2006. Cultivation techniques and development on short day strawberry
cultivars for cold regions. Rep. Hokkaido Prefectural Agri. Exp. Sta. 108:1-65 (in
Japanese with English summary).
Narukawa, N. 1986. Promoting effect of flower bud differentiation by low night
temperature treatment in nursery strawberry plants. Agri. and Hort. 61:884-886 (in
Japanese).
Seyama, N. 2001. The Japanese strawberry industry into the 21th century. Proceeding of
the Japan Strawberry Seminar, 2001. 10:8-22 (in Japanese with English summary).
Takahashi, H., Yamasaki, A., Shoji, K., Kawagishi, K., Taguchi, T., Yoshida, Y. and
Morishita, M. 2009. Present status and prospects of strawberry breeding and cropping
type in northern Japan. Acta Hort. 842:475-478.
Takai, T. 1979. Various problems of strawberry cultivation in Hokkaido. 4. Cultivars and
dormancy of the strawberries. Hokuno 46(2):21-26 (in Japanese).

Tables

Table 1. Proportion of the strawberry cropping system in Hokkaido

Cropping system Area (ha)z Percentage (%)

Spring cropping 67.9 60.2
Summer-autumn cropping 35.5 31.5
Winter cropping 9.3 8.3
z
Data are estimated from cultivar cropping survey in 2008 by Agricultural Production Promotion Division,
Department of Agriculture, Hokkaido Gevernment.

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Table 2. Summary of strawberry production in Toyoura area in 2009.

Production Production Density of

Area
Cropping system volume value planting
(a)
(kg) (thousand Yen) (plants/a)
Spring harvest 416 38,773 43,386 392-444
Summer-autumn harvestz 70 10,509 17,067 440-700
Forced culturey 231 77,023 91,843 700x
z
These data were in 2008.
y
These data include semi-forcing culture.
x
The number of semi-forcing culture were 463-529 plants/a.

Table 3. Summary of strawberry production in Furano area in 2010.

Production
Production Density of
Area value
Cropping system Cultivar volume planting
(a) (thousand
(kg) (plants/a)
Yen)
Hohoemikazoku 164 28,644z 41,962z 480-500
Summer-autumn harvest Pechka-prime 208 - - 480-500
Pechka-santa 102 - - 480-500
Forced culture Sagahonoka 139 18,261 25,531 600
z
Data were in 2009.

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Figures

M onth
C ropping type A ug. Sep. O ct. N ov. D ec. Jan. Feb. M ar. A pr. M ay June July
S pring harvest

S um m er-autum n harvest
(A utum n planting)

S um m er-autum n harvest
(Spring planting)

Forced culture

Planting
Harvesting season
Cover with plastic
Removal of axillary buds and flower buds for maintenance of plant vigor
Night cooling and short-day treatment for forcing of the flower bud differentiation

Fig. 1. Diagram of typical cropping systems in Hokkaido, Japan.

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