In this installment of the ‘Agronometrics In Charts’ series, we review strawberry prices from 2014 to 2023. Each week the series looks at a different horticultural commodity, focusing on a specific origin or topic visualizing the market factors that are driving change.

According to the USDA Economic Research Service, American farmers have been getting just over half of the total amount consumers spend on fresh strawberries since 2020. In 2023, the average cost for a pound of fresh strawberries at retail was $3.80, slightly lower than the previous year but notably higher than in 2019 by 52 cents and 2014 by 75 cents.

While expenses related to marketing, such as packing, transportation, wholesale, and retailing, have decreased since 2020, the prices at the farm level, which impact retail prices, have generally risen. In the farm share calculations, USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) estimates that about 8 percent of fresh strawberries are lost through spoilage and trimming, so it’s assumed marketers buy about 1.09 pounds of fresh strawberries from farmers for each pound they sell at retail.

Using this adjusted volume, the farm share of the retail price—the ratio of what farmers receive to what consumers pay per pound in grocery stores—was 53 percent in 2023.

Related articles: Precision breeding aims to make better, more resilient strawberries, blackberries