With the ever-increasing demands of discerning consumers, developing, growing and importing new varieties is essential to driving sales. The leading growers and marketers, alongside their varietal development partners, have taken this on board and are pushing the boat out in terms of bringing new fruit to market.
Berry Gardens, whose market share of UK retailers’ raspberry sales rose from 25 per cent in 2011 to 40 per cent in 2012, has put a heavy focus on NPD. “We have new strawberry, raspberry and blackberry varieties on trial or in commercial production from our partner Driscoll’s breeding programmes,” explains managing director Nicholas Marston.Crucially, the company also has strong links to Driscoll’s overseas production.
Raspberry ripples
“Driscoll’s raspberry varieties from Morocco, Spain and South Africa deliver superb-tasting berries to the consumer on a consistent basis, while guaranteeing great appearance and shelf life as well,” continues Marston. “They have revolutionised non-UK season raspberry supply, delivering the same great taste in winter as we have been delivering in the summer months. Driscoll’s mission is to deliver delight to consumers, and recent developments in year-round raspberry production mean between Driscoll’s and Berry Gardens we can delight consumers year round, in volumes that are being increased rapidly enough to satisfy all demand.”
The increasing volumes required to achieve this near doubling of share have been driven by increases in production from the Agadir area of Morocco, accompanied by existing production in Spain and South Africa. After research and trials over several years, Driscoll’s came to the conclusion that the combination of winter sunshine and soils of Agadir are ideal for production of winter raspberries. The area grown is now expanding annually to meet a burgeoning demand from the UK and all of mainland Europe.
Strawberry fields
Meanwhile, the strawberry market has had an eagerly awaited new arrival in the form of a new short-day variety called Serenity. “The berry industry has for many years had a gap in supply of strawberries immediately after maincrop Elsanta finishes, and Serenity fills the gap there perfectly,” explains Rupert Hargreaves, managing director of Hargreaves Plants.
Bred at East Malling in Kent, the Serenity variety is high yielding with a high percentage of class-one fruit and it is orange to red in colour. It also has high levels of
disease resistance, due to the fact that it is a Florence-Soma clone.
In the everbearer arena Hargreaves is also expecting to see good volumes of another new East Malling-bred variety, Buddy, this year. “It has wonderful flavour and is pitched at the premium-brand end of the market,” he says.
In the raspberry sector, Tadmor and Erika are two new varieties Hargreaves has high hopes for. “Both offer great flavour for the consumer and yield for the growers,” he adds. “These are the wins that the industry needs to identify.”
Black is back
Another area that offers great growth potential is the blackberry sub-sector. “We will start to see the market segment in terms of culinary and fresh market varieties,” says Hargreaves. “There are now enough established varieties out there to do this and we will be seeing retailers positioning themselves accordingly over the next couple of seasons.”
He is referring to varieties such as Ouchita, Navaho and the widely planted primocane Reuben, which offer sweet fruits grown on easy-to-manage canes.
“We are so fortunate in this industry as we have an abundance of new varieties coming through from a range of world-class breeders,” he says. “This all helps the consumer to experience a better-eating product, which in turn helps to
position berries at the forefront of the produce offer in the retail sector.” -
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