Quality and price of fresh market strawberries in West Tennessee

Tennessee strawberry producers have received an average of about three and one-half million dollars annually from strawberry sales for the past ten years. While this amount is less than one percent of the state's total crop value, strawberries rank eighth as a source of crop income. In addition to being the most widely grown truck crop, they have been in most years the most valuable crop.

Unlike most other crops, the characteristics of the strawberry make the marketing process extremely difficult. The product grade or quality as established on the farm never improves during the product's journey to the consumer. Deterioration sets in immediately after harvest, many times before, and continues at a rate determined by environmental conditions. The primary environmental factors of temperature and humidity are not always easily controlled in the marketing process, as evidenced by present marketing techniques. It is, therefore, very important that as strawberries start through the marketing channels that they have the proper quality characteristics if they are to make this market journey successfully. Many factors influencing quality on the farm cannot be controlled but harvesting methods can directly influence the product grade.

While quality receives much credit for the success of a marketing season, the medium of awarding such success is through price. Costs and returns are the final gauge for the grower in measuring the success of a particular enterprise. The quality of a product is expected to respond to price incentive and price is expected to rise or fall with quality where quality is the main consideration in establishing price. Quality is supposed to provide a basis for establishing value at the various levels of marketing and is especially important in determining first sale price of some farm products. The grade or degree of quality is described by industry wide standards and the respondent price is supposedly determined by product demand and supply the translation of these forces by local marketing firms. Yet, it may be that impediments arise which so reduce the level of interplay between these forces that proper responses are not seen in certain markets. The farmer and the marketing firm are both strongly concerned with price and quality factors.