Our rasps are outstanding in their field
Brian McIver It’s It a little over 2cm in height and a could be squashed to a pulp p between a finger and a thumb. th
But to Nikki Jenkins the not very catchily ca named Floricane RBC16F6 can ca revolutionise a vital part of the Scottish Sc food industry.
Breeder Nikki is at the forefront of changes ch which will keep fresh rasps on the th shelves for months beyond their current cu season.
After a decade- long experiment, Nikki, N of the publicly funded James Hutton H Institute in Invergowrie, at the heart h of the Perthshire and Angus soft fruit fr heartland, is trialling a new super-berry. su
She bel ieves it could provide a boost to farmers and growers facing increasing Brexit-related pressures.
She said: “We have a new variety, which is resistant to rot and is a combination of large fruit and large yield the retailers are looking for.
“Up until now, all of the diseaseresistant varieties have been small and low yield. This is my superhero raspberry.
“It’s in trials with growers. We made the cross in 2009 – which is relatively recent in breeding terms – and have seen it produce a crop in ground we know is badly infested. It has the DNA marker and stands up to the resistance. I love the flavour.” Until the turn of the Peter Arbuckle century, most raspberry producers harvested by machine to get pulp for jams. But a consumer- led demand for fresh fruits sparked a move to hand picking.
To cut waste, growers brought in special polytunnels – networks of plastic keeping crops protected from the rain and elements.
Soil-grown plants have also been affected by the spread of the dreaded raspberry root rot, meaning many have now moved to growing in pots.
Despite a decline, the Scottish industry still produces more than 2900 tons of fruit and is worth £12million a year.
Nikki said: “It would be fantastic if we can help the growers. They really need something to give them a boost.
“Raspberry areas have continued to reduce because labour costs are so high. Changing from soil-grown crops to pot grown is a lot of money. There was a big outlay moving from machine harvesting and putting in the polytunnels was a big cost as well.
“If we can increase picked efficiency, get bigger fruit size and make it easy to pull off the husk, that makes a difference.
“The further outside the traditional season they can grow, the higher the price they will get. Prices are very low and don’t reflect production costs as they are still very expensive to produce.”
Nikki has been working in the raspberry field for 23 years, breeding plants by taking the male and female pollinators apart and mixing them.
They use lab equipment to study the DNA of the plant – but do not genetically