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strawberries.”


Dossett stated that B.C. grows an incredibly good strawberry in the Fraser Valley, but they are still not without their problems, he notes. “The biggest thing with the ever-growing variety is that we only have one variety out there right now that has the fruit quality people want, and that is Albion.


“Albion does not yield particularly well. It has some disease issues, so we would really like to come up with something that is better for the day- neutral market.”


Several producers now grow their berries under cover in greenhouses or in high tunnels or under plastic cover.


The plus side is that it keeps the rain off and you get good fruit quality. The real trick is how the grower manages disease problems such as powdery mildew and assuring that the economics pay off.


Dossett was on hand for the Raspberry Field Day, which took place at the Clearbrook Research Substation in Abbotsford, a satellite operation of the Agassiz centre.


Numerous raspberry varieties, most of them experimental, were on display and had been harvested from plants on the Clearbrook farm and an adjacent privately-owned one. The variety grown most in B.C. is Meeker. “It is an old variety and when it looks good, it looks good,” says Dossett.


“It has problems with fruit rot and viruses. It can also be touchy about the way it is handled. Chemainus does a little bit better; it picks extremely well, handles the weather really well, but it still has issues with root rot and viruses. So there is definitely room for improvement,” he explained


“The most difficult thing I run into with raspberries is machine harvestability. At the end of the day whatever we produce has to be machine harvestable to the point where it comes off the bush before it is over-ripe and in good enough shape that you can IQF (quick-freeze) them.” Dossett noted that when you run a machine harvester over a lot of raspberries, up to 90 per cent won’t come off at all or won’t come off until they are over-ripe. “So in terms of developing new varieties for a packaging industry like ours, coming up with something that machine-harvests really well is our objective.”


Dossett considers the United States to be B.C.’s main competition in the world raspberry market. “There is a lot of production down in Whatcom County in Washington State, and a lot of our B.C. growers farm on both sides of the border. Once you move outside the Pacific Northwest, then Mexico and Chile become a challenge.” While the Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) is the current major disease concern for both raspberry and blueberry growers it is by no means the only disease problem. It seems that every year a new disease threat emerges out of the blue, says Dossett.


10 British Columbia Berry Grower • Fall 2016


B.C. rep gets world view of the raspberry industry


By Grant Ullyot A


bbotsford’s Sukh Kahlon, whose extended family operates a large berry farm and processing plant, represented the B.C. Raspberry Association at the 2016 conference of the International Raspberry Organization (IRO) in Serbia.


The objective of the IRO is to bring together major raspberry producing groups under one umbrella to improve communication and promote increased raspberry consumption. At the meeting in Sabac, Serbia,


GRANT ULLYOT Sukh Kahlon


the IRO accepted Mexico’s application, raising the number of member countries to 13.


Kahlon says Mexican production should be reason for concern for both Canadian and U.S. producers, but he did not elaborate. He reported that overall world production was down in 2015, with tight supplies that created conditions for high prices. This is leading to less demand for raspberries and declining prices for IQF (quick-frozen) berries.


The 2016 crop is likely to provide ample supplies for building up inventories and better returns for growers.


World production of raspberries last year reached 425,000 tons. Production in B.C.. and the U.S. Pacific Northwest was hit hard by hot weather, reducing their yields by as much as 40 per cent. Kahlon noted that Chilean production also has declined considerably over the years, largely due to bad cultural practices including the use of old genetics and uncertified plants. The same is true to a lesser degree in both Serbia and Poland.


Both Australia and England have adopted intensive cultural practices using long tunnels to produce high valued raspberries for the domestic fresh markets. It is a model that Canada needs to consider as large amounts of fresh raspberries enter the Canadian market. The theme of this year’s conference was food safety. A great emphasis was paid to what is the single biggest issue that could harm the market for raspberries. All countries are progressing on the food safety front. In Canada it is a very important effort, with several organizations spearheading it.


A motion was also passed to keep raspberry production GMO free. On the second day of the conference, delegates visited two packing plants and one raspberry field. Kahlon said the plants were larger than what we see in North America, with substantial packing equipment, but the equipment did appear to be older and perhaps not up to date. He said the wage rate is as low as $10 a day, which gives the packers reason to over-employ labour instead of getting maximum use out of their equipment.


Most growers are on small acreages ranging in size from half a hectare to one and a half hectares.


The main variety of raspberry grown is Willamette, with varying production levels from 10 to 15 tonnes per acre, with the majority of the berries harvested by hand.


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