Raspberry traits assigned values

BC produced nearly 15 million pounds of raspberries last year with an average farmgate value of $1.13 a pound.

Now, researchers are hoping to pin a value on specific traits — such as size, colour and flavour — to figure out which cultivars have the best chance of boosting returns to growers.

“There’s a whole long list of things you want in any variety, but you can’t have all of them so you need some way to prioritize,” says Michael Dossett, a research scientist at the Agassiz Research and Development Centre who oversees berry breeding in the province. “This will allow us to come up with an estimated economic value for everything.”

Officially known as “Economic Tools in Innovation in Raspberry Breeding,” the project received $38,500 on May 29 in the form of an agricultural enhancement grant from the Abbotsford Community Foundation. The grants are funded through an endowment fund the city of Abbotsford established in 2011 to offset the impacts of industrial development on the city’s agricultural land.

The award was made to the Lower Mainland Horticultural Improvement Association, which administers funding for raspberry variety development on behalf of the Raspberry Industry Development Council.

“We’ll be leveraging what we’re already doing as part of the breeding program,” says Dossett.

The grant will pay for an agricultural economist to determine values for each raspberry trait and develop formulas that allow breeders to better understand the value proposition a given selection offers growers.

“We’ll be able to take any given selection and estimate the economic value and then rank them that way,” explains Dossett.

Abbotsford Community Foundation executive director Wendy Neufeld says the 2020 grant program focused on innovation. Technologies that demonstrate an environmental and sustainability component were favoured.

This year’s grant program offered $130,000 for agricultural enhancement projects. Just one other project was selected, however, for total disbursements of $88,500. Eleos Robotics Inc. of Surrey received $50,000 for its weed-killing robot, RoboWeeder, which controls weeds without chemicals.

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7 hours ago

Forty-six regions in BC are eligible to participate in the federal livestock tax deferral program, announced yesterday, more than anywhere else in the country. The program allows producers who downsize their breeding herds by 15% to defer reporting the proceeds until the following year, when they buy replacement stock. But after multiple years of drought, the BC beef herd is cruising 25-year lows and some producers are calling for more support to maintain and rebuild their herds. For more, see: [www.countrylifeinbc.com/bc-leads-livestock-tax-deferrals/]

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4 days ago

After weeks and weeks of no moisture, there's rain in Kelowna today. While much more moisture is needed over the coming weeks and months to reduce drought conditions and the air smells of wet campfire, the slow, steady rain is very welcome for fruit grower#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

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5 days ago

The first Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust Grassland Set-aside Variety Trial Field Day was held at Delta's family-owned Tecarte Farms, August 27. Co-owner Bill Bates and DFWT executive director Christine Schmalz welcomed more than 35 people to view seven acres planted to different grassland blends specifically chosen to rejuvenate the soil and support the farm's blueberries. For the Bates family, it was time to try something different following the decline of the field's blueberry bushes over the past several years. "We tried everything, and nothing worked," says Bates. The blueberries were removed in May and the grassland crops planted about a week later.

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Bessette Creek is the latest watershed hit with a temporary fish protection order this year as the province moves to protect returning Chinook salmon. A total of 131 surface and groundwater users must cease drawing water immediately, with forage producers, greenhouses and nurseries impacted. "Declining flows in Bessette Creek reached record lows in early July 2026 and have remained below the minimum level required to support fish population survival," says the province. Bessette producers have embraced voluntary cutbacks, scheduled irrigation and other measures to reduce water use, and are also waiting on funding to boost water storage infrastructure. They're the second group of producers hit with a provincial order this year. Salmon River irrigators were told to top watering earlier this month following a reprieve to address wildfire risk. Growers in both the Salmon River and Bessette watersheds are urging the province to support new water storage infrastructure in advance of next year.

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There is a problem... having lived in the salmon river ( silver creek ) area, I remember a fish biologist telling family members that salmon only "survive" in high iron content creeks, they do not "thrive".... salmon river ( silver creek ) is a very high iron content, would stain clothes brown when i would use bleach... So don't expect high salmon numbers off of that creek , even in ideal situations...

I just wish they would take an interest in CHASE CREEK....went bone dry...100% of trout abd other species died...smell was terrible from rotting fish. Understand this has happened many times in the past. Chase Irrigation District totally responsible for this disaster. Now fishermen are complaining about major drop in water levels at Pillar Lake.

They could not mismanage things worse than they have. It's impossible for them to. The fact that farmers that we need for our animals are now suffering the consequences our governments have not protected us from, is absolutely fucking wild.