Ireland: Promising potential for Malling Centenary strawberry variety

Work carried out on the new and popular ‘Malling Centenary’ strawberry variety has allowed Teagasc researchers to gain a better insight into the fruit’s promising potential. For decades, strawberries have been the main soft fruit crop grown in Ireland. In the 1970s and 1980s, this crop consisted mostly of processing strawberries, but in recent times there has been a huge increase in protected fresh strawberry production. At present, Irish growers produce at least 8,500 tons of fresh strawberries per year, worth an estimated €45 million. For over 40 years, the Dutch cultivar ‘Elsanta’ was the most popular cultivar grown and the mainstay of Irish production. A few years ago, however, it was replaced by a new variety: the Malling Centenary. Malling Centenary was bred and released for the Centenary celebration of the East Malling Research centre in Kent. Malling Centenary is classed as an early-midseason cultivar making it suitable for early and extended season production. Its main ...