1 of 2
Photo by © Coreypro | Dreamstime.com
Raspberries
2 of 2
Photo by © Yvon52 | Dreamstime.com
Raspberry
Raspberry growers have seen positive results for the past two years, but much of the credit goes to Mother Nature according to Dianne Klatt, co-owner of Pacific Coast Fruit. Good weather made for good berries and the ability for growers to satisfy varying needs.
“The demand was very strong, so it was a great season,” Klatt said. “It was our second year in a row where it wasn’t raining during harvest, which is really nice.”
Firm, full berries allowed growers to spread their harvest among fresh, processed and IQF sales which ensures demand, and pricing, stays high. Prices to the grower were up and growers were able to support everyone who wanted berries in all the ways demanded.
“We want to see all sectors of the industry supported,” Klatt said, referring to growers, processors and others within the supply chain.
With an abundance of high quality berries, growers pulled away from processing slightly to put more of their yield into the IQF market. Supply of IQF was still short, keeping the prices very high, according to Klatt.
The processed market has continued to be strong as well and the movement of more berries into IQF and fresh may have taken some of the pressure off the processors who found themselves overwhelmed when one processing facility shut its doors.
The supply of processed berries for juice and purees was “just right” in Klatt’s opinion, but straight pack was short in supply due to the finicky nature of the process.
“It’s the reason the industry went into sieving years ago,” Klatt said of straight pack. “It’s hard to keep the insects from the field out of the raspberries.”
As Klatt noted, only North American growers do a wet pack raspberry. All other countries focus primarily on IQF.
“Fields [of raspberries] are still coming out [being replaced with other crops] and some growers are not renewing their [raspberry] fields,” she added.
Klatt noted that approximately 14 million pounds were harvested, which was down about 4 million pounds from the previous year.
“They have better weather,” she said of Chile and other raspberry growing regions. “Even with our changing climate. These past two years were fabulous, but the years before that, the weather was awful. If it’s not the weather, it’s the SWD [spotted wing drosophila], and sometimes both.”
Klatt says processors and growers must continue to work together to meet regulations and make money.
“Prices are going to be strong again next year,” commented Klatt. ■
