Since word got out on the nutritional attributes of berries, media coverage of the UK berry industry has been on a welcome high. The Daily Express, The Sunday Times and The Sun have all documented the multitude of berry health benefits and to complement this, there has also been increased interest in home-grown produce.
A heartening point for those who are interested in the UK economy, is that new English-bred strawberries and raspberries are making significant inroads on markets both locally and overseas, bringing welcome royalty income to the UK from plant sales. “The strawberry and raspberry breeding programmes at East Malling Research (EMR) have produced a number of successful varieties over recent years, and there are many promising new selections in the pipeline,” says Meiosis’ David Taylor. “Meiosis plays a vital role in the licensing and marketing of varieties from the EMR breeding programmes, together with the collection and return of royalties.”
The breeding programmes at EMR are an excellent example of research co-operation between the public and private sector. Part of the funding for both programmes comes from Defra, which pays for strategic research, principally on pest and disease resistance. Strawberry variety development is funded by Meiosis, with the aim to produce a range of high quality finished varieties suitable for different markets and growing systems. The Horticultural Development Council (HDC) is also involved in both programmes and contributes funding towards variety trialing on growers’ farms. The East Malling Trust for Horticultural Research provides additional support for raspberry breeding
“The main objective of the strawberry breeding programme at EMR, which is led by Dr David Simpson, is to produce well adapted, productive, high quality varieties covering a range of different seasons. Another important objective is to reduce the need for chemical sprays to control pests and diseases, and a number of lines have been developed with high levels of resistance to fungal diseases and several EMR varieties have a reduced need for chemical inputs,” says Dr Taylor.
A good example of the excellent varieties coming from the programme, is the late season variety Florence, which was released in 1997. “Florence was the first variety to combine multiple-disease resistance with pest tolerance and excellent eating quality. Due to the high relative cost of harvesting strawberries, picking efficiency has become increasingly important for growers and this is another major advantage of Florence. Average fruit size of Florence is large compared to Elsanta, and this combined with lower percentage waste, means the variety can be rapidly harvested. Pickers at one farm in Kent harvested an average of 30kg/ha of Florence, compared to only 12-13kg/ha for Elsanta,” he says.
Florence has offered growers in the UK and north-west Europe the option to extend their production of firm, high quality berries, after Elsanta and other mid-season varieties have finished cropping. It is a robust variety that is suitable for production under a range of different growing systems. Florence’s multiple-disease and pest resistance make it particularly attractive to growers on problem sites, and those wishing to use low input systems, including organic production.
“Florence plant sales have risen dramatically since the variety was launched. From 600,000 in the first year, sales reached a total of over 11 million plants in 2002-03. Although plants were sold initially only in the UK, since 1999 sales in north-west Europe have increased rapidly, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.”
Since its launch in 2002, Octavia is rapidly establishing itself as the standard late-season-summer-fruiting-raspberry for the fresh market. Octavia has the distinction of being the fastest selection ever to be named and released from the raspberry breeding programme at EMR. The initial cross was made in 1992, the seedling selected in 1996, and Octavia was named and released in 2002. With its harvest period some 10 days later than Glen Ample and Tulameen, Octavia offers the opportunity for growers to produce good quality raspberries into August each year and provides a better overlap with primocane varieties.
“The berries of Octavia are cohesive, evenly set, easily plugged and firm, combined with an excellent shelf life,” says Dr Taylor. “Like Glen Ample their texture is meaty but with a superior flavour. Compared to one on its parents, Glen Ample, Octavia has added advantage of resistance to the feeding of biotypes 1-4 of the Large Raspberry Aphid (Amphorophora idaei), the principal vector of aphid-borne viruses affecting raspberries in the UK. The success of Florence strawberry and the potential of Octavia raspberry, and a continuing flow of new cultivars from EMR, will help to keep the UK soft-fruit industry at the forefront, and encourage the breeders on to hopefully greater and better things.”
With raspberry trialing well under way, Hargreaves Plants believes that Polka will be the new EU benchmark in primocane raspberries. Production manager Garth Baxter says: “Polka has pretty well got everything going for it. It is good to propagate, is a fine growers’ variety and is ideal for the retail market.”
The variety is bred by Dr Jan Danek at Instytut of Brzezna in Poland. And as it is being grown from Cornwall to as far north as Tayside, fruit will be widely available for evaluation this summer.
“I was very impressed tasting the variety against competing varieties such as Octavia, Himbo Top and Joan Squire last year,” says Hargreaves’ consultant Stuart Stubbins. “I feel it will certainly be a winner on the supermarket shelves.”
This is a view supported by Reto Neuweiler of the Swiss Federal Research Station for Fruit Growing, Viticulture & Horticulture. Having had two earlier years of Polka trials, Dr Neuweiler confirms Stubbins’ views on the superiority of Polka.
Polka is being tested in most key raspberry growing areas of the EU and is being trialed in several North American locations. Hargreaves Plants feels the variety has a promising international future, as to date, results have been very encouraging. The production period of Polka demonstrates its important mid-point pick date.
The variety is being significantly trialed in Spain to ascertain if it is well suited for double cropping to compete with early production. Hargreaves Plants is the exclusive propagator in the UK. “We are receiving highly complimentary comments from last year’s customers,” says sales manager Carl Wilson. “Although production of canes has been increased, demand from the UK and overseas will show a shortfall.”
For the following season, Hargreaves Plants will have additional high health stocks from its new micropropagation laboratory.
The raspberry industry in the UK is in desperate need of high-quality long, cane plant material. Canes more traditionally used by UK growers offered a relatively low yield potential. Hargreaves Plants has endeavoured to revolutionise the industry by using new growing techniques with the aim of producing long canes with previously unobtainable yield capabilities.
The company has rejected traditional spawn bed production in favour of combined technologies from the US, Switzerland and New Zealand, as well as in-house innovations. These methods include the use of single rows, polythene-covered raised beds and a cane-support system. “The overall aim in our change of production methods is to produce long canes with significantly higher yield potential for the end user,” says Hargreaves Plants’ commercial director Rupert Hargreaves. “Our new techniques will allow better light and spray penetrations, as well as the ability to produce a better root system. As a result, we will have canes that have both the bud numbers and the root system with the ability to extract the ultimate yield from those buds.”
With an increased demand for home-produced fruit, the fresh raspberry market within the UK continues to grow. Long canes are normally used in three ways in the UK: planted in December-January and forced under protection for an early crop; planted in March from cold store at high density, up to nine canes per metre to produce high volumes at peak sales time; or planted in May, from cold store to produce a 90-day crop to fill the gap between floricane and primocane varieties. Carl Wilson says: “We have seen a rapid increase in the sales of our long cane products in the last three years, however it is apparent that total fruit requirement is still not being met. Therefore we felt the best way to meet this gap was to produce better quality, higher yielding canes. The plants will come at a premium that will be far outweighed by the return potential. The bulk of the canes have already been pre-sold. It has been a long and difficult learning process to reach our new standard.”
Redbridge’s berry production has fared well this year with good production levels on strawberries and raspberries and lots of high quality fruit despite unusual cropping cycles due to cool weather and low light levels. Elsanta is widely grown but there are a number of other very good berries that give continuity of supply.
Redbridge and The Summerfruit Company - its joint venture with Worldwide Fruit - are always looking to introduce new varieties to extend the UK strawberry season and to increase consumer choice; Redbridge’s breeding company Redeva is also developing and trialing new varieties for the future.
Year-on-year berry consumption is increasing as consumers appreciate the health benefits that regular eating of berries can bring, but encouraging more people to include berries regularly in their diet as a snack or in a meal, is still necessary since the penetration of berry consumption outside the peak summer season is very low.
Sharp Interpack continues to be a dominant supplier in the soft-fruit punnet market in 2004 maintaining steady supply against a strong rise in demand. Using its well-recognised range of Sharpak punnets, sales have grown steadily on last year in line with market growth and the company now has more than 75 per cent of the soft-fruit-punnet market for UK season.
Investments were made into additional capacity prior to the start of the season and further investments have been made since to ensure consistent levels of supply until the end of the season.
As a result, Sharp is now steadily supplying pre-printed lids to Sainsbury’s for its range of strawberries. Sharp has also won contracts to supply premium packs for the Tesco Finest and Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference fruit ranges.
With continued interest in UK produce, it will come as no surprise that sales of UK strawberries reached record levels in June. A total of 13,222 tonnes were sold through UK supermarkets, representing a like-for-like increase of 10 per cent on June 2003.
One of the contributing factors to the sales increase is media coverage following the release of research on the benefits of berries conducted on behalf of British Summer Fruits by leading nutritionist Patrick Holford.
One of Holford’s key findings is that the high zinc content in strawberry seeds has a positive effect on a person’s sex drive, news that generated more than 137 pieces of print and broadcast coverage in June, reaching as far afield as the Sydney Morning Herald and Pravda in Russia.
According to Holford, strawberries and raspberries are the superfruits of the century. One serving of them provides three times more health benefits than most fruits. While the government recommends eating five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, not all fruits are equal and strawberries and raspberries contain 10 essential nutrients. Not only is this more than are found in other foods, five of the nutrients are not found in any multi-vitamin pill.
According to Holford, who on behalf of British Summer Fruits analysed all fruits using five criterion - zinc content, folate content, antioxidant content (ORAC), vitamin C content and glycaemic load - strawberries, followed by raspberries, came out top.
“Berries are as close as you can get to the perfect fruit,” he says. “In addition to being an important food for anyone watching their weight or wanting to lose weight, they provide numerous benefits from boosting energy levels to reversing the signs of ageing, improving a person’s sex life, aiding concentration, and preventing cancer, colds, hay fever and asthma. I recommend a serving of berries every day - that, far more than an apple, is likely to keep the doctor away.
“And it’s not just the zinc content of the berries which is beneficial in the bedroom. They are incredibly high in anti-oxidants which help to optimise blood flow to the sex organs, and they have the lowest glycaemic load of any fruit meaning they provide sustained energy levels at only a few calories.”
Laurence Olins, chairman of British Summer Fruits, the industry body which represents 98 per cent of all the soft fruits sold through supermarkets says: “Let this be a call to arms for the men and women of the UK. Patrick’s findings show berries to be as close as you can get to the perfect fruit. A serving of strawberries or raspberries a day - whether as a snack, a smoothie or in a recipe - should be top of everyone’s list.”
In addition to improving male and female sex drive, strawberries and raspberries provide numerous other benefits. They help reverse the signs of ageing, help prevent cancer, hayfever and asthma, boost energy levels, aid concentration and help hangovers. They are also great for anyone watching their weight and who needs sustained energy.
Other contributing factors to the sales increase include the (mostly) warm weather in June and the marketing campaigns of individual supermarkets.
“We were very encouraged by this positive start to the season” says Olins. “As an industry our biggest sales period has traditionally been Wimbledon fortnight, yet this year sales were consistently high throughout the whole of the month. Even the rain and wind of the first week and Euro 2004’s domination of the sports agenda couldn’t halt the rise in strawberry sales. If they continue for the next few months at these levels we will likely exceed last year’s annual record of 30,719t.”
No comments yet