Received: 15 February 2023 Revised: 9 November 2023 Accepted: 18 November 2023

DOI: 10.1002/ppp3.10475

REVIEW

Opportunities and challenges for strawberry cultivation in

urban food production systems

Aikaterini Kouloumprouka Zacharaki 1,2 | James M. Monaghan 1 |

2 1
Jennifer R. Bromley | Laura H. Vickers

1
Crop Research Centre, Agricultural and
Environment Department, Harper Adams Societal Impact Statement
University, Edgmond, Shropshire, UK
Cultivation of strawberry plants in urban production systems, whether in green
2
Vertical Future Limited, London, UK
open-air spaces or under some form of protected horticulture such as vertical farm-
Correspondence ing, has demonstrated to be challenging to new farmers and businesses. Commercial
Aikaterini Kouloumprouka Zacharaki, Crop
Research Centre, Agricultural and Environment
strawberry producers have an advanced understanding of strawberry plant physiol-
Department, Harper Adams University, ogy, enabling them to grow the crop successfully and profitably. Lack of knowledge
Edgmond, Shropshire, UK.
Email: [email protected]
exchange between commercial growers and new urban farmers seems to result in
the abandonment of strawberries as crop of choice in urban systems. This review will
confront the specific plant science challenges urban growers need to address to
incorporate this nutritional crop into their revolutionary urban growing systems,
whilst achieving good quality produce with high yields.
Summary
To ensure a sustainable future of farming, urban horticulture (UH) will need to be a
key part of our everyday life. There are increasing demands for higher productivity
and more locally produced food, even close to densely populated urban areas, to
address environmental pressures and accelerate the resilience of modern food sys-
tems. UH is a broad term and can include numerous cultivation methods; rooftop gar-
dens, public spaces, vertical walls, indoor vertical farms, as well as an array of crops
including, salads, soft fruits and trees. Crops such as strawberries are expected to
soon make a significant contribution to UH. Urban strawberry production promises
all-year round fruit availability, reduced reliance on imports, increased self-
sufficiency, lower food miles, a supply of high-quality fresh fruits from hyper-local
spaces, increased employment opportunities, welfare benefits and an opportunity to
promote a sense of community. Strawberry is a complex perennial crop with agrono-
mical challenges, which requires specialist knowledge that is not always available to
new urban farmers. Achieving an urban version of a strawberry field will require
knowledge exchange between the commercial rural strawberry producers and the
newly entered urban growers. Plant physiology, management of plant pathogens,
choice of propagation material, fertigation, pollination and environmental require-
ments are the most common challenges for urban strawberry production. This review

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,
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© 2024 The Authors. Plants, People, Planet published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of New Phytologist Foundation.

Plants People Planet. 2024;1–11. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ppp3 1

2 KOULOUMPROUKA ZACHARAKI ET AL.

aims to consolidate the common bottleneck challenges of UH for new urban straw-
berry facilities.

KEYWORDS
controlled environment agriculture (CEA), indoor farming, strawberry, total controlled
environment agriculture (TCEA), urban farming (UF), urban horticulture (UH), vertical farming
(VF)

1 | I N T RO DU CT I O N protected horticulture (Durner & Poling, 1988; Heide, 1977;

Lieten, 2013; Neri et al., 2012; Sønsteby et al., 2006), but in the case
The world population is rapidly expanding and was estimated to have of UH farming, there is a lack of availability of cross-disciplinary
reached 8 billion on November 2022 (United Nations, 2022), bringing knowledge, skills and experience. The purpose of this review is to dis-
with it the worldwide challenge of food distribution and availability. cuss these challenges and the benefits of incorporating strawberries
To match food demand, which is projected to increase by 43% by in UH food systems.
2030 (FAO, 2011), productivity must increase. Due to scarcity of land
for agricultural purposes, 90% of the increase in food productivity is
expected to come from increased yields and plant density, with only 1.1 | World-wide strawberry production
the remaining 10% coming from land expansion (FAO, 2009). Simulta-
neously, the uneven distribution of resources, increasing urbanisation, Based on FAO reports, the worldwide production of strawberries
climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and the effect of war exceeded 9.18 million tonnes in 2021. Asia is the largest continental
(e.g., energy and the international supply chain crisis) pose further producer (4.53 million tonnes) followed by America (2.18 million
potential worldwide pressures on current food systems (United tonnes), Europe (1.76 million tonnes), Africa (634.29 thousand tonnes)
Nations, 2004). To be able to feed the population and facilitate the and Oceania (60.31 thousand tonnes; FAO, 2023). The production of
transformation of food systems to become more sustainable and resil- strawberries has historically been increasing, but in 2020, a reduction
ient, innovative technologies and methods to produce food more effi- of 2% was observed, compared to 2019 data (Figure 2). This reduction
ciently and sustainably are desperately needed. could be explained by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the
Globally, urban horticulture (UH) has an important role to play in challenges related to labour availability and cost (Pelham, 2020).
the food security and resilience of cities. According to the World It is thought that the world may reach a plateau of strawberry
Health Organization (WHO), the suggested daily consumption of ‘five production, primarily due to land competition and a reduction of the
a day’ equates to 400 g of fruits and vegetables; 146 kg per year per scale of impact of innovation in yield improvers. As production starts
individual (NHS, 2015). Urban outdoor green spaces in the UK alone, to plateau and demand continues to increase as in the past, UH can
without considering any controlled environment agriculture (CEA) play an important role in the food availability as well as the sustain-
growing spaces, have the potential to produce almost double the vol- ability of urban environments.
ume of fresh produce per individual recommended for daily consump-
tion; 770 g per day or 281 kg per year for the UK population (Walsh
et al., 2022). Worldwide, multiple cities are already producing substan- 1.2 | Commercial strawberry production systems
tial food in UH (Khan et al., 2020). Singapore is one of the cities put-
ting this into practice, with a target of producing 30% of the food Conventionally in commercial rural horticulture, strawberries are
consumed within Singapore (SFA, 2020). grown in soil or substrate, often under protection (CEA) such as poly-
The impact of UH on the three pillars of sustainability—environ- ethylene polytunnels on table-tops and glasshouses, with rare use of
ment, society and economy—has been discussed by many authors supplemental lighting (Van Delm et al., 2016). Strawberry cultivation
(de Oliveira et al., 2020; Dorr et al., 2021; Edmondson et al., 2020; in soil is rapidly declining due to soilborne pests and diseases that are

mez et al., 2019;
Eigenbrod & Gruda, 2015; Evans et al., 2022; Go difficult to manage without regulatory restricted soil sterilisation prod-
Kalantari et al., 2018; Khan et al., 2020; Morgan, 2014; Payen ucts, for example, methyl bromide (Paranjpeand et al., 2003). In the
et al., 2022; Specht et al., 2015), with some variation between the United Kingdom, 55% of the strawberry production takes place in
spectrum of open-air, low-tech to indoor, high-tech urban farms, as substrate (soilless cultivation), with fertigation provided by drippers,
illustrated in Figure 1. while 45% is still in the soil (British Summer Fruits, 2017). The most
Strawberry is a crop that is already cultivated commercially, using commonly used substrate is coir (coconut fibre), while rockwool and
soilless methods, making it suited to the technological approaches peat are also popular. The soilless cultivation methods of growing
that UH uses. The physiology and cultivation methods of the straw- strawberries contributed to the steep increase in yield per hectare
berry crop have already been extensively studied for commercial between 2000 and 2010 (DEFRA, 2022), as it provided protection
KOULOUMPROUKA ZACHARAKI ET AL. 3

F I G U R E 1 Illustration of ecosystem services, the environmental, economic and societal benefits (shown as stars) and challenges (shown with
a warning triangle) of urban horticulture across the spectrum of technology/automation, level of protection and productivity of urban farms. At
the left side of the graph: soil-based horticulture (SBH), open-air, low-tech such as allotments, domestic gardens and raised beds; and to the right
side: controlled environment agriculture/total controlled environmental agriculture (CEA/TCEA), indoor, high-tech urban farms, such as
warehouses or offices. The benefits listed in the left or right of the graph are more pronounced in the specific type of urban farm system
respectively, while those in the middle are shared amongst all types, with some variations.

F I G U R E 2 Global production of strawberries

(1961–2020) in million tonnes, showing
production in each of the five continents
(FAO, 2023).

from soilborne plant pathogens, and increased water and nutrient effi- control of the environment, control of incoming plant pathogens with
ciency by preventing the leaching that can occur in a soil-based sys- the use of window nets and, potentially, supplemental lighting, which
tem. Glasshouse production has major benefits, including tighter leads to higher yields (Van Delm et al., 2016).
4 KOULOUMPROUKA ZACHARAKI ET AL.

1.3 | Typology of UH height profile), which allows plants to be grown in levels or walls,
its high market value, and its wide demand and high nutritional
UH is defined as the production of food in urban and peri-urban value (Giampieri et al., 2012; Hernández-Martínez et al., 2023).
areas, either using soil-based horticulture (SBH) in green infrastruc- Yields for strawberries grown in UH can vary between 0.87 kg/m2/
tures such as allotments, domestic gardens and raised beds, or in year for soil-based open-air cultivation (Passos et al., 2015) to
CEA using grey infrastructure, which is within or on top of buildings 11.49 kg/m2/year for four stacked horizontal layers growing sys-
such as rooftops, warehouses or offices (Edmondson et al., 2020; tems with artificial lighting (Hofkens et al., 2021). Based on
Stormonth-Darling et al., 2020). UH is estimated to contribute to 70 observations in the meta-analysis of Payen et al. (2022), the
15%–20% of global food production, and could reach 30% or even average strawberry yield of UH is 2.5 kg/m2/year, which is similar
more of local food production if all the available food producing to that expected from conventional horticulture of 2.2 kg/m2/year.
areas were to be utilised (Abdulkadir et al., 2012; Grafius et al., 2020; Producing strawberries in UH could reduce the volume of imported
Payen et al., 2022). strawberries during winter months and bring local/national straw-
CEA was a term established in the 1960s describing a manner of berry production closer to all-year-round production, reducing food-
growing plants in semi-closed spaces, where environmental and other miles associated with imports.
parameters were controlled for, achieving greater yield and economy
(Hodges et al., 1968). Since then, CEA has grown as an industry, and
has created a number of different streams, such as the basic control 1.5 | Types of UH strawberry farming
that polythene polytunnels provide, the wider spectrum of variable
technology of glasshouses, and the absolute control of all environ- The role of strawberry UH in the future of food systems will be
mental elements that total control environment agriculture (TCEA) separated into three subcategories: commercial, non-commercial
provides (Mitchell, 2022). (allotments, community farms, school gardens) and research estab-
Vertical farming (VF), in absolute terms, is the method of grow- lishments (Dorr et al., 2021). Production in both commercial and
ing plants in a vertical manner, either grown horizontally and non-commercial contexts can take place in SBH (open-air home gar-
stacked vertically at multiple levels, or grown on vertical surfaces den and community gardens); CEA with examples of the building
(e.g., living walls; Beacham et al., 2019). Very often the term VF is integrated agriculture (BIA) set-ups such as: rooftop gardens, roof-
used meaning any indoor growing method with artificial light as the top greenhouses (Bell Book & Candle, 2021; Caplow, 2009;
sole source of lighting. Nevertheless, VF can be used in any Eigenbrod & Gruda, 2015; Sabeh, 2019); TCEA including retrofitted
CEA/TCEA facility. indoor farms in buildings (Specht et al., 2014); indoor farms in con-
It is evident that the typology of TCEA is very broad and does not tainers, such as the early operations of Agricool, France
capture all the system differences. Authors have been using different (Dillet, 2018); and indoor farms in warehouses (urban/peri-urban
terms and giving slightly different definitions, including VF areas) such as FlexFarming (2022) in the United Kingdom. The types
(Despommier, 2010), plant factory with artificial lighting (PFAL) of food production systems used in UH have been described in
(Kozai, 2013), indoor urban vertical farming (IUVF) (Avgoustaki & Khan et al. (2020).
Xydis, 2020) and closed plant production systems (CPPS) (Kozai &
Niu, 2015). The level of technology must be specified by case, as
within the categories we see big differences in growing practices, 1.6 | Equipment layout and cultivation techniques
which can include irrigation, fertigation, integrated pest management
(IPM), hygiene, health and safety, inspection automation, and harvest In UH, many types of equipment and layouts are used, from simple
method (de Oliveira, Unpublished). soil cultivation to vertically orientated systems such as those
Currently, commercial application of TCEA is focussed on two described by Beacham et al. (2019). Plants are grown in soil, substrate
strategies, less challenging crops such as leafy greens, salads and high or in nutrient rich solution, and irrigated with drippers, mist or nutrient
value crops such as cannabis. As research on the environmental condi- film technique (NFT). Figure 3 illustrates possible equipment layouts
tions, crop physiology, engineering and the investment in TCEA has used for strawberry cultivation in urban farms. In SBH, strawberry
increased, more complex crops have started to be introduced includ- plants are often grown in the soil (Figure 3a), in raised-beds and
ing soft fruits, vegetables, cosmetics, medicinal, pharmaceuticals and planters (Figure 3b), or stackable planters filled with soil or substrate
transplants (Kozai & Niu, 2019a). (Figure 3c). The most common commercial cultivation method is a
table-top system with substrate bags (Figure 3d), where fertigation is
provided with drippers. Vertically stacked horizontal systems are ver-
1.4 | Strawberry as crop for UH tical extensions of the commercial systems (Figure 3e). Other vertical
systems are vertically stacked horizontal systems in inclination
Strawberries are considered a suitable candidate for UH, whether it (Figure 3g), cylindrical towers (Figure 3h) and vertical walls or lines
is grown in SBH, CEA or TCEA, due to the plant's architecture (low (Figure 3i).
KOULOUMPROUKA ZACHARAKI ET AL. 5

F I G U R E 3 Illustration of the equipment layouts used in strawberry cultivation in urban farms. Soil cultivation is the simpler method of
growing strawberries, with minimum requirements of equipment, fertigation and knowledge of plant physiology (a). Pots and planters are often
used on the ground or hanging, filled with soil, compost or substrate (b). Stackable planters or short towels with openings at the vertical side as
well as the top of the towel, filled with soil, compost or substrate (c). The commercially used tabletop systems (d), vertically stacked horizontal
systems (e) or vertically stacked horizontal systems in inclination (g) with substrate in grow bags or pots, and drip irrigation with nutrient solution,
nutrient film technique (NFT) or aeroponics. Towers where plants are grown at the sides of the cylindrical tower through opening (h) and vertical
walls or lines such as ZipGrow where plants are grown towards one direction (i), fertigation provided by mist or drippers. Inspired by Beacham
et al. (2019).

2 | C HA L L E N G E S O F S T R A W B E R R Y The profile of F1 hybrid seeds in commercial and research uses

PRODUCTION IN UH has recently increased due to their benefits, which include absence of
pests and diseases; logistics advantages; and cost and growing advan-
2.1 | Types of strawberry propagation materials tages, such as short production time, all-year round availability and
uniformity (Bentvelsen & Van Der Vange, 2021). However, F1 seeds
Choosing the right type of propagation material for growing straw- require a high level of expertise, understanding of physiology for
berries is of crucial importance for the smooth operation of an urban flower initiation (Durner, 2016) and an appropriate facility for flower
farm, and this decision should be made on a case-by-case basis. Poorly initiation and vernalisation.
chosen propagation methods can minimise the opportunities UH can An alternative method of producing propagules that eliminates
offer, potentially leading to increased use of pesticides, crop losses plant pathogens is the production of ‘high-health’ plants from an ex-
and lack of propagation material when required. nuclear (micro-propagated) stock of strawberry plants (Whitehouse
Growers have access to two types of propagation material: asexu- et al., 2011). Plants produced in this way carry near zero plant patho-
ally produced propagules, primarily used in rural commercial farms, gens, which may lead to a significant reduction of pesticide use, and a
and F1 hybrid seeds, often used in the amateur market. Both propaga- stable yield with reduced fruit waste. This type of plant is not cur-
tion types, propagules and seed, have their advantages and disadvan- rently available commercially, but if the industry were to shift to this
tages, and could be used for commercial farming. Propagules are type of plant, it could contribute significantly to the profitability and
widely available for commercial use and are easy to plant upon arrival, sustainability of strawberry farming.
although can transfer viruses, pests and diseases to the farms, which
has a major financial impact (e.g., fruit waste, pesticide use), and their
availability depends on the season (Neri et al., 2012). 2.2 | Cultivar selection
Propagules are available for only part of the year, January to June
in the United Kingdom, due to the fact that transplants from mother Cultivar selection directly affects the farm flows, price per kg of pro-
plants are established in spring and produce runners during the duce, capital investment and operating costs, and is dependent on cul-
summer. Fresh plants are available from September, but vernalised tivar availability, susceptibility or resistance against diseases, time of
short-day plants are only available from January. Vernalisation is the the year, market preferences and consumer acceptance. Due to cli-
chilling process that initiates flowering and produces 60-day pro- matic conditions, northern countries primarily grow Junebearing culti-
grammed plants, where fruit harvesting starts 60 days after planting vars (Neri et al., 2012). Junebearing cultivars offer one single peak of
(Neri et al., 2012). the crop, traditionally in June; hence their name. Due to their single
6 KOULOUMPROUKA ZACHARAKI ET AL.

fruiting period, these plants require regular replacement, or they can observed, but precautionary measures should take place to minimise
be kept in their position while vernalisation takes place, leading to the introduction of pests and diseases. In the future, we expect pesti-
poor space utilisation. In farms with high capital investment (such as cide use to discriminate between applications (such as outdoor,
TCEA), space utilisation is of high importance, making the manage- indoor), and to require further approvals. For example, the Canadian
ment of farm processes with Junebearing cultivars economically government do not permit the use of pesticides in VF until sufficient
challenging. data on hazards and risks have been collected and assessed
In the last decade, there has been a growing trend towards Ever- (Government of Canada, 2022).
bearing cultivars, with UK breeders increasing their focus on them
(Whitehouse et al., 2021). Everbearing cultivars could offer an attrac-
tive business case for all farming types, as they perpetually fruit over 2.4 | IPM
a longer period of time, subject to the plants receiving the appropriate
environmental conditions, such as light and temperature, for flower While the introduction of plant pathogens in a strawberry farm is
initiation. often unavoidable, urban farmers are often very motivated to move
Strawberry cultivars with firm skin, which are resistant to dis- into pesticide-free cultivation practices. Professional agronomists are
eases, are chosen for long-distance transit, to reduce mechanical the most appropriate point of contact for the urban farmer, but they
injury during handling and consequently the deterioration of fruit are not always consulted, leading to reactive rather than precaution-

n et al., 2019). Often, cultivar
quality (Azam et al., 2019; Moya-Leo ary IPM. Furthermore, as some types of urban farms such as TCEA are
selection for long transits or longer shelf-life leaves behind cultivars not yet very common, agrochemicals do not officially recommend use
with superior flavour due to their low firmness or high susceptibility in indoor environments, and agronomists can be cautious with their
to disease. In UH, the production of strawberries is closer to con- recommendation.
sumers; long transits are not required, allowing growers to have the To enable a pesticide-free crop, an appropriate IPM with as little
flexibility to choose cultivars based on other characteristics than environmental impact as possible should be chosen. Biological control
shelf-life, such as flavour. agents (BCAs) are widely used in agriculture and play an important
The business case that drives the selection of which type of role in a strawberry IPM. Bio-fungicides such as Trichoderma spp., and
plants UH will use must take all factors into consideration and make Bacillus subtilis have been intergraded into commercial IPM against
an informed decision between the two main types of strawberry Botrytis cinerea, Pythium spp. and Fusarium spp. (Abbey et al., 2019;
plants, Junebearing or Everbearing. For example, a business may Asad, 2022; Wei et al., 2016), while phosphites are used as fungicides
chose a cultivar that provides access to a niche consumer base, or and are particularly effective against Phytopthora spp. (Havlin &
higher profitability margin, such as wild strawberries (Fragaria vesca). Schlegel, 2021). Additionally, UV-C irradiation technology on plants
has started to be used in table-top systems, primarily for control of
fungus such as Botrytis cinerea, and could also be used in UH settings
2.3 | Reduction of pesticides (Takeda et al., 2021). These IPM methods can be applied both as pre-
cautionary and reactionary measures, and are much friendlier to urban
As UH is an idiosyncratic type of cultivation that takes place in urban farms, due to the zero harvest intervals and absence of harmful
areas, close to residential or other uses areas and buildings, reduction residues.
of pesticide use has an additional motivation: preventing the contami-
nation of surrounding areas with pesticide residues. Plant pathogens
can be introduced and spread in UH, as they do in any other environ- 2.5 | Pollination
ment (Jarvis, 1992). Once plant pathogens have been introduced in
the growing environment, they spread and their management can be Farmers usually prefer to enhance the pollination of strawberry flowers
financially and environmentally costly. New plant pathogens can with additional pollination methods, and often use bumblebees (Bom-
become a challenging problem in UH systems, particularly in CEA/T- bus sp.). In UH, this can occur naturally if the farm has open access to
CEA, due to vulnerabilities such as the heterogeneity of the system pollinators, but if the farm is enclosed (indoors), a pollination method
(Roberts et al., 2020), ease of spread of diseases through the nutrient must be incorporated into production. Provision of pollination for farms
distribution system (Hernández-Martínez et al., 2023), warm tempera- that restrict the entrance of pollinators, can take place with (a) brush

mez et al., 2019).
tures and moderate to high levels of humidity (Go pollination for small scale trials; (b) wind pollination by either static or
In the case of strawberries grown from propagules, the straw- handheld fans; (c) introduction of pollinators, such as the commercially
berry plants can potentially enter the growing environment already used Bombus sp. in glasshouses or other insects such as Chaetospihon
infested. In a UH setup, plant pathogens can either be ignored, or fragaefolii (Van Oystaeyen et al., 2022); or (d) the use of autonomous
treated with amateur market remedies, biological controls (although pollination drones that pollinate with mechanical or sonic vibration
these are costly), or synthetic pesticides, depending on the purpose of (Dingley et al., 2022; Hulens et al., 2022).
the UH project (commercial or social enterprise) and the associated When insects are chosen as the pollination method, farmers must
cost. The use of pesticides is the most efficient when an infestation is evaluate the environmental conditions of the farm, with attention to
KOULOUMPROUKA ZACHARAKI ET AL. 7

temperature, humidity and light. In the cases of TCEA, where the light 2.7 | Energy consumption
source is solely artificial, the spectra, light intensity and flickering fre-
quency of the light module need to be evaluated to fall within the pre- Energy consumption is a critical factor in the environmental impact of
ferred conditions for the insect of choice. Regardless of pollination strawberry cultivation in UH. The energy consumption is related to the
method, the temperature and relative humidity in all urban farms will technology that is used in the urban farm. Those farms (mostly CEA)
affect pollination and fertilisation (Leech et al., 2002). This has shown that use artificial light and environmental controls will have to carefully
to be one of the limiting factors of success for indoor farms consider the impact of energy consumption in their operations.
(CNBC, 2019). Unlike microgreens and leafy greens, strawberries require much
higher levels of sunlight or artificial light intensity, lower temperatures
and have higher needs of dehumidification, leading to higher levels of
2.6 | Fertigation energy consumption. Close-canopy targeted lighting could be used to
manage light related energy use, which can save up to 50% of energy
Strawberry plants are complex biannual plants, and fertigation costs (Mitchell, 2022) due to reduced loss through dissipation. Fur-
should be closely monitored. In UH setups, additional attention thermore, strawberries have a higher level of photosynthetic ability at
should be given to the nutrient recipe and irrigation. Strawberries the first half of the day; this observation could be further investigated
have more complex nutritional needs than leafy salads and micro- and used in setups with artificial lighting, so as to manage light levels
greens, with different nutritional requirements when in vegetative to optimise light use only when the plant can efficiently use it
versus fruiting stages (Yu et al., 2023). Another challenge for straw- (Garcia & Kubota, 2017). Additional savings in energy costs could
berry fertigation is that plants are salt-sensitive and high salinity in result from the utilisation of excess electrical energy in the grid and
the root zone can radically decrease plant growth (Giuffrida fluctuating energy use across the growing period (Avgoustaki &
et al., 2001). High salinity, drought events or excessive fertigation Xydis, 2021). While the latter sounds very attractive, the logistics of
can affect leaf size, photosynthesis, yields and quality of crop (Saied turning parts of the farm cultivation areas off have to be explored, as
et al., 2005). Close monitoring of the nutrient solution and substrate farms might require compartmentalisation. Furthermore, to ensure
(when in use) is important to the successful growth of strawberries there are no negative profitability impacts, the effects of varying pho-
in any UH. In other UH crops, recirculation is often used to improve toperiod or light intensity across photoperiod should be closely stud-
resource use efficiency, but in the case of strawberries, nutrient ied for different varieties as they could differ in their response.
solution is rarely reused, in an effort to avoid spread of diseases, The challenges of strawberry cultivation in UH are summarised in
and to manage salt build up. Figure 4.

F I G U R E 4 Challenges (shown with a warning triangle) and opportunities (shown as stars) of urban cultivation of strawberries, shared across
the variation of urban horticulture (UH) farms from soil-based horticulture (SBH) to controlled environment agriculture/total controlled
environmental agriculture (CEA/TCEA).
8 KOULOUMPROUKA ZACHARAKI ET AL.

3 | PERSPECTIVES AND FUTURE et al., 2015). A strawberry plant in an urban environment could be a
DIRECTIONS chance to educate the public about where and how food is produced
and what impact its waste has on the environment.
The increase in urbanisation, alongside the global challenges of food The international community could benefit from valuing the
availability (United Nations, 2004), puts an emphasis on our ability to impact UH could have on food supply systems by following the inspir-
grow food locally, provide stable prices, and make our cities and coun- ing example of the Singaporean government's Green Plan, in which
tries more self-sufficient (Khan et al., 2020; Walsh et al., 2022). Grow- 30% of food is to be produced in urban areas by 2030. UH potentially
ing our knowledge around the optimal environmental conditions for provides huge benefits and could revolutionise food production. More
each crop and identifying suitable urban locations for their cultivation steps should be taken internationally to enable UH by providing pre-
will be key to incorporating UH into the modern food supply chain competitive spaces to support cooperation between all stakeholders

mez et al., 2019; Kozai & Niu, 2019b).
and increasing efficiency (Go (government, research institution and private companies) for a com-
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions will play mon goal of self-sufficient and sustainable cities.
an important role in transforming cities into smart cities, and particu-
larly in providing solutions for food production in urban spaces (Batty AUTHOR CONTRIBU TIONS
et al., 2012). UH has the potential to be one of the approaches used Aikaterini Kouloumprouka Zacharaki conceived and designed the
to solve the 21st century's food issues, alongside other technologies review and created the figures. All authors Laura H. Vickers, James
and practices, such as VF (Despommier, 2010). UH could contribute M. Monaghan and Jennifer R. Bromley contributed to the writing and
to a ‘good food revolution’, growing healthy food that is beneficial for revision of the manuscript.
the physical and mental health of the community (Allen &
Wilson, 2013). AC KNOW LEDG EME NT S
Strawberries could be the flagship crop for expanding the use of We would like to thank Vertical Future Ltd for enabling this research
UH in our food production systems. Due to the morphological archi- by supporting A.K.Z. with her doctorate work and the insightful con-
tecture of the strawberry plants (short height profile), strawberry tributions from the anonymous reviewers. Particular thanks to
plants have been the first candidate fruiting crop for many vertical Dr. Carlos Flores Ortiz who translated the Societal Impact Statement
farms, after leafy greens and microgreens. Arguably, other forms of in Spanish.
UH, such as allotments, have already included strawberries in their
portfolio of crops, as well as many vegetables, fruiting plants, even CONFLIC T OF INTER E ST STATEMENT
trees, but the challenges are very different when we think of any CEA At the time of submitting of this paper, A. Kouloumprouka Zacharaki
version of production systems. and J. R. Bromley held a permanent position with Vertical Future Ltd,
Many may wonder what more needs to be studied in relation a vertical farming company.
to the physiology of the strawberry plant, but the reality is that
when we move into any form of CEA system, the buffer that the DATA AVAILABILITY STAT EMEN T
natural environment provides is taken away, and plant science, Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were gener-
physiology knowledge and engineering skills then play a vital role. ated or analysed during the current study.
The full analysis of all growing parameters of strawberry cultivation,
such as cultivar selection and plant propagation quality, fertigation, OR CID
artificial illumination, IPM and pollination method forms a barrier Aikaterini Kouloumprouka Zacharaki https://orcid.org/0000-0002-
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