According to the newly released 2022 Census of Agriculture, Indiana has 248 farms growing strawberries, a 25% increase from 2017’s 199 such farms. This rise is particularly notable because the number of strawberry farms decreased from 250 to 199 between 2012 and 2017.
Despite the increase in the number of farms over the past five years, the total strawberry acreage has remained similar. This indicates that more farms are growing strawberries on relatively smaller acreages in Indiana. Separating bearing age and nonbearing age crops, the increase was primarily in bearing age crops, both in terms of acreage and the number of farms, while the number of farms and acres for nonbearing age crops decreased over the past five years. Below is the Indiana strawberry data in the past three Ag Census.
Table 1. Indiana strawberry production in the past three Ag Census
Year | Total | Bearing age | Nonbearing age | |||
Farm | Acre | Farm | Acre | Farm | Acre | |
2022 | 248 | 262 | 223 | 220 | 47 | 41 |
2017 | 199 | 254 | 150 | 204 | 78 | 50 |
2012 | 250 | 285 | 200 | 218 | 80 | 67 |