Only a handful of growers in Ontario farm haskap berries but for this honeysuckle relative, it does well in the Northern hemisphere. Valley Nursery Sod Growers diversified four years ago, adding haskaps to their orchard. They have about 27 acres totaling 40,000 plants growing Tundra, IndigoYum, HoneyBee, IndigoGem and Aurora varieties. “The season has been amazing actually,” said Ginette Filion, manager. They operate pick your own and pre picked sales and frozen, distributing to only two independent grocery stores nearby. Currently berries are sold on site at the farm. The season normally starts around or just before Canada’s July 1 long weekend. This year their start was a week and a half late because there wasn’t enough sun to help the plants mature.
Haskap berries are slowly gaining more popularity in Ontario. “They’re very popular in Asia.” She said it has similar uses to other berries. “You can use it the same way you would a blueberry or raspberry.” Even through research most problems and solutions are solved with trial and error as the crop is established. Although they researched growing haskaps first, Filion said it’s proven to be a lot more work; it’s not something you can simply plant, let grow and then harvest the fruit. “Every place they grow differently. They’ve grown amazingly here, much more than they have in the west. We were looking for something that would grow well here.”
On the other side of the business, she says another challenge is getting people familiar with the berry. To get around that they offer samples on site. “When people come to the farm we hand out samples right away. Even if they come and get sod – either way they’ll get to try the berries. We want people to know it and learn about it. The taste is so different.”
In July the farm was featured on a TV interview with CTV. Since that interview she said demand really increased. There is a possibility of growing more for commercial or wholesale in the future. Plans are to add more acreage this fall and regarding next year. “Then we’ll see what the demand is," Filion said.
For more information:
Ginette Filion
Valley Nursery Sod
Ph: 705-897-4320