FSPS

Florida Strawberry Patent Service

When the first Florida strawberry varieties became available, we formed the Florida Strawberry Patent Service Corporation (FSPS), which provides a turnkey service for royalties. FSPS promotes the patented varieties, corresponds with and collects royalties from the licensed nurseries, helps protect the patents, develops overseas markets, and sends a single check to UF each year.

The program is one of the most successful in the state. The FSPS pumps hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Florida strawberry variety program annually, and the agreement’s oversight stipend has given the organization the flexibility to examine other research funding opportunities.

Strawberries - diverse genetics

Many people are surprised to find out that strawberry growers plant bare-root plants rather than seeds. The reason is every strawberry seed contains different genetic material, the product of a myriad of potential gene combinations. Because the genetics of strawberries are so diverse (humans are diploid, strawberries are octoploid), each of our varieties came from a single seed, which was cloned from a single mother plant. The mother plant puts out runners (called daughter plants) that were essentially identical to her, which in turn also put out runners.

Last year, we planted over 96 million plants from one variety, each of which was identical to their great, great, great grandmother found to be a good selection maybe ten years earlier. The major varieties of strawberries grown in Florida are Winter Dawn, Strawberry Festival, Camarosa, Treasure and Carmine.

Eight patented Florida varieties

The IFAS Strawberry Research Center has patented seven Florida varieties in less than a decade, the Sweet Charlie, Rosa Linda, the Earlibrite, Strawberry Festival, Carmine, Florida Radiance, Florida Elyana and Winter Dawn. Strawberry royalties collected from around the world have made FSPS the second largest source of royalty funding of all IFAS varieties.

Because of the Association's long standing relationship of funding strawberry research, IFAS allows FSPS to rebate $.50-$2.00/thousand to FSGA members. Growers must be a member in good standing to receive this rebate.

For more information on growing Florida Strawberry varieties internationally contact: Roy Ekland at 1-530-345-4476 or email him here.

For more information on growing Florida varieties within the United States contact: Glenda McNary at 1-813-752-6822 or email her here.