This was the message from speakers at breeder Hargreaves Plants's third soft fruit seminar held this week on the eve of Fruit Focus.
Reflecting on this year's achievements of soft fruit in terms of varieties and market growth, Hargreaves's Stuart Stubbins said that it had been a good year for soft fruit and a good year for raspberries in particular, despite the challenges of the last few weeks due to a concentration in supply.
The company's Tim Morton outlined the hopes for new raspberry variety, Polka launched at Fruit Focus. Morton said: “We have an exciting primocane variety in Polka which has promising attributes in terms of season, quality, flavour and yield. The fact that is is an early season berry is a valuable attribute ñ it has a similar season to Autumn Bliss and follows on behind Tulameen and Octavia to give the customer continuity of supply and harvesting. Hargreaves believes this could become the leading primocane in Europe and we recommend that this variety should be included in growing plans.”
There was encouraging news from supermarkets too on raspberries and Sainsbury's Theresa Huxley detailed an upbeat period for the UK soft fruit industry as a whole. “The industry has changed enormously in the last 10 years in terms of improvements in supply, quality, marketing and communication,” said Dr Huxley. “The raspberry sector especially has shown incredible growth. Existing buyers are purchasing bigger quantities and are also buying more frequently.”
She reported that at Sainsbury's the average weight of purchase has increased by 17 per cent on last year thanks to the introduction of tastier varieties, better packaging, improved supply and production techniques. “Crop forecasts have also been improved, as has planning and programming,” said Dr Huxley.
Stubbins added that there is great potential for raspberries in the market by filling gaps at the shoulders of the UK season. “Raspberries are now more reliable and consistent,” he said. “The industry has made huge advances in the last few years and shelf-life is much improved, we have good eating varieties and customers are coming back for more. Growing the market further can also be achieved with large, professional growers, berries which are chilled after picking and covered crops.”
Speakers from HortResearch, New Zealand highlighted the increasingly well-known health benefits of berries which are driving consumers to purchase more fruit, and forecast that future research will concentrate on breeding cultivars with higher levels of phytochemcials.
Speaking on the future of UK soft fruit as a whole, Paul Kelsey from Kelsey Farms urged growers to take responsibility for improving communication with plant suppliers. “No grower wants to inherit problems from a propagator but all too often they do,” he said. “To see where plants are propagated and stored is essential. In this way relationships can be built and knowledge shared.”
Despite an overall positive season, Paul Taylor chief executive of Hargreaves Plants warned against complacency and said that growers must always be conscious of changing markets. “We are now studying blueberries and blackberries and I believe that asparagus has also got potential,” he concluded.
For a full Fruit Focus report don't forget to log onto freshinfo next week.
No comments yet