Despite the partially difficult weather conditions the berry harvest in Switzerland was good last year, reports the German website Gabot.de. According to the 'Schweizer Obstverband' (SOV) 394 tonnes of blackberries were harvested in Switzerland last year. This is a new record and a considerably higher harvest than in the previous year, when the harvest amount was only 219 tonnes. The cultivation of blackberries has a long tradition in Switzerland. In 1990 the cultivation area was already at 31 hectares, almost the same level as today (32.5 hectare in 2012). The area of the other berries, mainly blueberries, on the other hand, has grown hugely throughout the years (from 6 hectares in 1990 to 65 hectares in 2012). In total the bush berry area grew from 155 hectares in 1990 to 311 hectares.
2013 was not an easy year for the Swiss berry producers. The wet and cold spring lead to a delayed growth and therefore to a later harvest. Heat and plentiful sunshine in the summer also caused problems, for instance causing sunburn in raspberries. Despite this the blackberries are no exception with their record harvest. Other bush berries also developed well. At 1,219 tonnes there were also more raspberries produced than in the previous year (1,192 tonnes). The gooseberry harvest was 5 tonnes larger than that of last year at 47 tonnes. Blackberries also reached a new record height with a harvest of almost 24 tonnes. At 307 tonnes 15% more currants were harvested than in 2012.
