It has been more than 10 years of progress, but the small fruit research team from the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Kentville Research and Development Centre in Nova Scotia has released its newest strawberry varieties. They are called AAC Kate, AAC Audrey and AAC Evelyn (AAC represents "Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada" or Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in English).

This release marks a total of 20 different varieties of strawberry that have been bred at AAFC in Kentville over many years of research, testing and field trials.  

Dr. Andrew Jamieson, an AAFC research scientist from the Kentville Research and Development Centre, first began the hunt for new varieties in 2012. Using a method called "controlled crossing", he chose two plants that had positive characteristics and dusted the pollen from one plant onto another. Once the strawberries grew, he picked them all and collected the tiny seeds. Each of the seeds grew into a unique new plant for him to study. After he identified the specific plants that grew the best strawberries, he began breeding the plants so he had several copies to compare side by side.

When Dr. Jamieson retired in 2017, he left a legacy of naming the new cultivars after his three granddaughters:  Kate, Audrey and Evelyn. His successor Dr. Beatrice Amyotte, continued to breed and field test from 2017 to 2022 in multiple locations, confirming that these new varieties had consistent growth, yield and fruit quality.

In Canada, the two nurseries with licenses to grow AAC Audrey, AAC Evelyn and AAC Kate are C.O. Keddy Nursery in Nova Scotia and Lareault Nursery in Québec.

AAC KATE

AAC AUDREY

AAC EVELYN

Source:  Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada June 21, 2023