Berry good in Canada

The USDA offers an update on not only the growth of U.S. strawberry exports to Canada, but also steady contraction of Canada's own strawberry acreage. 2006 strawberry acreage in Canada was off 12.5% compared with 2005, while Canada's imports of U.S. strawberries were up

"There are no developments to suggest that the trend to reduced bearing area will change during 2007," the USDA said.

Canadian imports of U.S. strawberries were up 11% in the first 10 months of 2006; with about 80,000 metric tons landed in Canada in 2006, U.S. strawberries account for about 97% of Canada's total fresh strawberry imports.