MichaelDossettworking for us”, said Smith,who saysDossett is on the leading edge of developing some promising newberry varieties. Dossett, a former berry researcher at
the federal Pacific Agriculture Research Center (PARC) in Agassiz,maintains several experimental breeding research plots there.Hewas hired initiallywith funding froman InSerc grantwhich expired this year.Ottawa stepped forward to provide the three berry groupswith $2.9million in funding, which included the cost of retaining Dossett for another four years. Smith said the proposal to implement
a systemof fees thatwould be used to provide funding for research is still in
limbo.Growers turned down the idea in 2012. “Nowour executive director,Debbie
Etsell, isworking on a plan to verify enough qualified, legitimate producers thatwill guarantee a positive vote for the check-off systemwhen put before growers in another referendumin the future.” “We’re not there yet,” says Etsell,
“but I amoptimistic that growerswill approve the planwhen it comes time to vote.”
Raspberry industry rebounds
Improved prices have reduced grower interest inmaking transition to blues.
By Grant Ullyot R
aspberry growers are looking forward to improved returns this year, thanks to low storage stocks of berries, which has
led to predictions of higher prices for the 2014 crop. For several years the price has been low and some producers converted from
growing raspberries to themuchmore lucrative blueberries. However, the forecast calling for a higher price for raspberries this year has slowed the conversion rate. In fact, according to the Sharmin Gamiet, executive director of the Raspberry Industry Development Council, some growers who had shifted their production into blueberries are returning to raspberries because the 2014 price outlook and the demand for raspberries is very good.
Abby plant shuts down Much to everyone’s surprise, Abbotsford Growers Co-op, amajor BC
processor, closed its doors and is now out of business. Its future is now in the hands of the court. Last year the co-op processed about a third of the total raspberry crop of 17million pounds. Berry Hill Foods and Pacific Coast Farms are the other large processors and now handlemost of the processing, with the remainder being handled by six smaller operations—Kahlon Farms, Narang Farm, Triple Crown, BC Frozen, Lucerne Foods Ltd. and A & P Food Products,. This ensures processed raspberries will continue to be shipped tomarkets across Canada, the United States and into Europe and Asia. Growers had to be certified before being permitted to deliver their product to
Berry Hill Foods. TomPhilips says this requirement was necessary to confirm that all the growers used ‘best-practices’ as set out by CanadaGAP, a food safety programfor producers of fresh fruits and vegetables. Berry Hill Foods’ processing is HAACP certified. An emergency response plan has worked exceedingly well and will allow the
industry to continue functioning as it has in the past. According to Gamiet, there were no problems with this year’s foreign farmworkers program, which sees an annual influx of temporary growing and harvesting help fromMexico and Caribbean countries. So far this year the SpottedWing Drosophila insect threat has been low with a
favorable weather pattern responsible for the lower than expected carry over through the winter and springmonths. B.C. produces a fine quality raspberrymuch in demand by consumers.With
an extended growing season, due to the fact that a lot of berries are now being grown under cover, there will be raspberries available into the fall. The industry has taken another major step forward introducing IQF
(Instant Quick Freeze) processing for berries destined for the retail export market. Berry Hill Foods is among the processors that have acquired this new technology installing two processing machines.
12 British Columbia Berry Grower • Fall 2014
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