Some of Scotland's innovative soft fruit growers look set for rich pickings this autumn as they harvest cherries and blueberries. Those two crops of fruit are relative newcomers to the Scottish scene and should command premium prices as they will be the only ones available due to them ripening later than competitors.
Traditional crops like strawberries, currants and raspberries are in decline in Scotland due to a number of factors. The area planted to strawberries has contracted by about 10 per cent over the last 5 years, mainly as a result of tightening margins as the market became adequately supplied, while the area under currants has declined by about 25 per cent over the same period.
Raspberries have seen the biggest decline in the area being cropped over the last 5 years, down from 600 hectares to about 350 hectare, despite good prices. That decline is mostly as a result of deadly raspberry root rot, or phytophthora, a fungus-like organism that loves our cold, wet climate, and can devastate crops.
Growers used to control it with soil sterilants that have now been banned for environmental reasons. There are currently no varieties of raspberries resistant to the disease although there are breeding programmes trying to develop resistant varieties. Until that happens, many raspberry growers have voted with their feet and abandoned the crop - prompting them to look for alternative crops.
One such crop is cherries, where the development of dwarf trees has allowed them to be grown in polytunnels where they are protected, while taking advantage of the high levels of daylight during the Scottish summer to produce great-tasting fruit well into September. Crucially, they ripen before the southern hemisphere cherries are harvested.
Another advantage of cherries is that they use the existing infrastructure raspberry growers already have in place.
Cherry orchards do not hit full maturity until their seventh season. As most Scottish orchards are just 4 or 5 years old, growers predict a strong increase in yields in the next two years. So far this year, cherry prices have held up well as the English crop has been less than half of expectation.
Another crop that has been developing in Scotland over the last ten years or so is blueberries, that are also grown in polytunnels, to produce fresh fruit when nobody else in the world can. Although they are increasing in popularity, they are not as widely grown in the UK as other soft fruits, partly because they can take over 5 years to produce a reasonable crop, and so are very expensive to establish. Fortunately the prices for blueberries have held up well this year as demand is rising over 25 per cent per annum, and supermarkets are also favouring UK fruit over imports.
Early varieties ripen from late July in Scotland, but many are growing late varieties to supply the market in September and October when the only other blueberries available are stored Polish and Dutch fruit that are losing their quality, or expensive early fruit from the southern hemisphere.
The "new kid on the block" is the honeyberry, a cross between a raspberry and a blueberry, which is being hailed as a super-food and is also suited to Scotland's colder climate. Honeyberries originate from northern Asia, notably Siberia, and the blue-coloured fruit is of increasing interest due to its desirable qualities, including very high levels of anthocyanin pigments. This has led to commercial production in places such as Canada and now the UK.
Like blueberries, honeyberries take 4 to 5 years to mature. Dundee soft fruit grower Stewart Arbuckle planted the first Scottish honeyberry orchard at the family farm in 2014. That trial plot of just over a hectare yielded a fairly good crop of fruit this year. Unfortunately, a horde of hungry pigeons devoured 20 per cent of the succulent, ripe fruits before the crop could be protected by nets.
Encouraged by the early success of that trial plot, Mr Arbuckle intends to plant another 5 hectares by the end of the month. Currently he is making juice from the berries and using it to flavour gin, but reckons that initially the main markets for the berries will be frozen, or processing for juice and smoothies, and that eventually a fresh market will develop.
Mr Arbuckle reckons the honeyberry could be called the "grape of the north" as it has more tannins than grapes and is ideal for making top quality wine.
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