Study to address difficulties faced by raspberry growers in UK

The James Hutton Institute has launched a pioneering five-year initiative to address the economic challenges facing UK raspberry growers. The Economics of Raspberry Production project has received £1m from the Innovate UK Research and Innovation programme to improve the sustainability of the crop. UK growers are facing rising production and labour costs, as well as a reduction in available pest and disease control measures. All of these pose serious risks to the sector. In response, the project will focus on developing raspberry varieties that require less water, fertiliser and care to grow. In the past two years alone, growing costs have increased by 25%, while retailer profitability has not increased at all. Although consumers consider UK-grown fruit to be of higher quality than imported fruit, purchasing decisions are largely driven by price, with cheaper imported fruit outperforming domestic fruit. "The UK raspberry sector is at a critical juncture," says Julie Graham, project ...