Ukrainian enthusiasts of haskap, a rather new berry for consumers, will be able to enjoy the new harvest of it very soon, analysts of the EastFruit project report.

Despite the fact that rains are recorded almost everywhere Ukraine, market experts and the producers state that this may only influence the timing of the mass harvest of the haskap. According to the producers, the low temperatures of the past winter, the unusually cool first half of spring, as well as cloudy and rainy weather in the first days of this summer did not have a negative impact on the state of the haskap plantations, and, accordingly, did not affect the volume of the future harvest of the berries on farms.

Geographically, the commercial production of haskap in Ukraine is concentrated in the most northern regions of the country, namely in Kharkiv, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytsky, Lviv and Volyn.

“The most unfavorable weather phenomenon for the production of haskap is the stable hot and dry weather with high temperature indicators, which makes it almost impossible to grow haskap in the southern regions of Ukraine,” says Oleksandr Yareschenko, National Institute of Horticulture of Ukraine. As for the cool and rainy weather in almost all regions in early June this year, according to the expert, it is the best conditions for the growing season of haskap berries. “However, there is a question mark regarding the taste of the future harvest. Due to the fact that most of the cultivated varieties of this berry in Ukraine are not so sweet, the lack of clear sunny days during the ripening period of the haskap could lead to the excess acidity in the fruits,” the expert summed up.

The first haskap berries this season have already been sold by producers in the Kharkiv region, who had a trial sample from the plantings of the earliest varieties. The price for first berries was reported at the level of last year, namely UAH 150/kg (US $5.5 per kg), but the rains in the region prevented further sales.

“The current rains will at most delay the peak of the mass harvest of berries, but will in no way affect the haskap harvest as a whole. And we are happy with the size of berries this year,” Evhen Nesterenko, director of the Krasnokutsk Experimental Gardening Station, says.

Neither negative air temperatures in winter, when indicators below -20*C were recorded for several days, nor cool and rainy weather this spring had a negative impact on the haskap harvest in the western regions of Ukraine.

“The shift in the mass harvesting of haskap by at least 7-10 days in relation to last year is confirmed. Berries on the bushes have already reached the required size, and only a few sunny days would have accelerated its ripening. Losses of berries as a result of overwintering and a cool spring have not been recorded in our country,” Mykhailo Slesarchuk, Ekogalichproduct, says.

According to the forecasts of EastFruit specialists , significant price fluctuations in the haskap segment during the current season should not be expected, which is confirmed by similar forecasts by analysts of the APK-Inform: Vegetables and Fruits project.

“Despite the fact that the current haskap berry season in Ukraine will start at least a week later, and the prices for first berries announced by the producers are identical to last year’s, it can be assumed that in the future they will be close to the indicators of 2020, since commercial production of these niche berries is only at the initial stage in Ukraine,” Olexandr Khorev, head of the APK-Inform: Vegetables and Fruits project, says.

Сообщение Haskap season is to start in early June in Ukraine появились сначала на EastFruit.

One of the main components of the berry business is berry varieties, which are the result of plant breeding programs either in Ukraine or abroad. Ukrainian plant breeding program is one of the components of the country’s food security. This was emphasized by Oleksandr Yareshchenko, Deputy Director for Scientific Work of the Institute of Horticulture of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine (NAAS), during the webinar “Berry Forecast-2021. New season – new problems?” organized by the “APK-Inform: Vegetables and Fruits” project. The media partners of the event were the EastFruit international platform and the Sapienza agromedia agency.

“Ukrainian plant bereeding is a resource, by which we can obtain certain volumes of products and settle the issue of food safety. New varieties are offering a competitive advantage due to the limited access of domestic producers to foreign assortment. In addition, Ukrainian plant breeding sector creates jobs for scientists and technical staff,” Olexandr Yareshchenko said.

Nevertheless, according to Oleksandr Yareshchenko, Ukraine cannot compete with the leading plant breeding companies in Italy and Great Britain. “There are 2-3 varieties of strawberries In Ukraine, one is an early selection and 2 are new varieties. The situation with raspberries is similar. We have 2 Ukrainian varieties in production and so far, there are not any prospects for improvement observed,” the Deputy Director for Scientific Work of the Institute of Horticulture of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine said.

According to Oleksandr Yareshchenko, full plant breeding of blueberries in Ukraine has not been carried out before, since the culture is relatively new for commerce. “At the moment, there are several domestic varieties in the register, which are in fact improved clones of the Elliott blueberry variety ,” the expert emphasized.

Olexandr Yareshchenko noted that the range of black currants is competitive. “Black currant is a crop with which we successfully compete with the leading plant breeding centers (Poland, Great Britain). More than half, if not 2/3 of the varieties of Ukrainian selection are grown in industrial plantations,” Oleksandr Yareshchenko added.

Modern breeding trends

“The plant breeding sector in the world is increasingly acquiring the features of a commercial project. Accordingly, it is becoming more private than public. Even developed countries like the USA, Germany, Great Britain, which until recently allowed state funding for plant breeding programs in different institutions, now are also follow this trend. Breeding is increasingly becoming private by means of domestic resources, grants from government or international foundations. There are two main formats: either large companies can finance plant breeding programs from their own budget, or association of producers, processors, companies interested in creating a commercial product will do so,” the expert said.

Сообщение Berry business: modern global trends and advantages of Ukrainian varieties появились сначала на EastFruit.

Alexander Yarechenko, Ph.D. in Agriculture, Deputy Director for Research at the Institute of Horticulture of The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine shared the prospects for producing, consuming, and processing haskap.

The 2019 season promises to be at least interesting for connoisseurs of haskap as a new super berry on the domestic market. This “berry of health”, as it is called in Japan, will be able to discover those consumers who only heard, but did not have the opportunity to appreciate its rich and original taste.

Thanks to Ukrainian producers who believed in haskap and planted the first commercial plantings in the last 2-4 years, we are already expecting it to appear on the market and supermarket shelves in early June.

In addition, almost for the first time, a limited supply of berries received from the best dessert varieties of the world selection, first from Canada, Ukraine and the Russian Federation, will appear on the market. This information about the varieties that consumers should clarify, and they will certainly not be disappointed!

A pioneer in this area is a producer offering its own berry under the Eco Vista brand. This enterprise has its own haskap plantations in the Lviv and Khmelnytskyi regions. In the Kyiv region, haskap is offered by innovative producers selling berries under the iBerry and StarBerry brands, as well as a number of smaller farms.

In the east of Ukraine, traditionally, super berry haskap can be purchased in the cradle of Ukrainian haskap, in particular, the Krasnokutsk experimental gardening station in the Kharkiv region. Of course, this is not a complete list of domestic producers, so consumers should be interested in gardeners in their region. As you can guess, it is possible that your favorite berry is much closer than you think.

The haskap season will last about a month (until the end of June), primarily due to new high-quality late-ripening varieties from Canada such as Boreal Beauty, Boreal Beast, and Boreal Blizzard. By the way, in the homeland, the latter is considered the standard of haskap taste!

In general, haskap in Ukraine is only gaining popularity, and the main commercial plantations have not yet entered fruit-bearing, therefore the market size is quite limited, as well as the offer. The gross harvest of haskap in 2019, according to our estimates, is unlikely to exceed 20-25 tons.  Regarding the pricing policy, we expect that the price will be 150-200 UAH / kg ($ 5.7-7.6 dollars per kg) for high-quality packed berries in retail chains, that is, approximately at the level of last 2018.

With the advent of haskap, a cautious but interested on the part of processors appears on the market, and the first tests showed very encouraging results. A serious limiting factor, in this case, is the limit of raw materials at a sufficiently high-cost price. So with the increase in gross harvest and the introduction of mechanized harvesting of haskap, it is possible to expect the emergence of new processing products from ordinary frozen berries to ice cream with haskap, yogurts with haskap, jams based on this berry, as well as liquors, wines and other healthy and nutritious products with high biological value for the human body.

Сообщение Ukraine is discovering a new super berry – haskap появились сначала на EastFruit.