UK-based IP company Global Plant Genetics has recently extended its representation of the raspberry varieties from James Hutton Ltd.
This was by way of taking on the territories of Mexico and Guatemala for the varieties Skye, Lewis and Glen Mor. This is an important development all-round as Mexico alone is known to be the world’s largest exporter of fresh raspberries.
Jamie Petchell, who heads up the raspberry crop at GPG, stated, “We have represented and developed these varieties in many other global territories for a number of years now. They provide a long season of supply of excellent quality fresh raspberries in terms of yield, flavour and shelf-life, and so to now have the opportunity to be working in these new locations, we are very excited.”
GPG is working with a nursery business with modern facilities in the country, SynergiaBIO México. They will be the company producing and distributing plant material to raspberry growers across the territory.
Rolando Garcia is the CEO of SynergiaBIO México, and he commented, “We have been working with the Skye, Lewis, Glen Mor, and Glen Carron raspberry varieties from GPG for a couple of seasons in other countries, so we are naturally delighted to be able to add Mexico to our territory portfolio. This agreement with GPG is really well-timed as we are expanding our nursery facilities and in-vitro propagation in the country. We are big fans of these varieties and look forward to offering high-quality young plants to major raspberry producers in Mexico in the near future.”
A brief lowdown on the varieties themselves:
- Skye; a primocane type with excellent double-cropping abilities, providing high yields of large berries that are very firm for excellent shelf-life during shipping. Its upright growth habit makes for easier cane management and reduced harvesting costs.
- Lewis; also known as “Bonnie Lewis” in the USA. Mostly grown as a pure primocane variety, although it can also be double-cropped. Lewis raspberry is characterised by its sweet flavour and early primocane cropping season.
- Glen Mor; a low-chilling floricane raspberry, Glen Mor carries the gene that purports resistance to Phytophthora root rot. Its low-chilling nature means that it is early to crop in the season, producing large yields of sweet raspberries.
Statistics show that Mexico produces around 128,000 tonnes of raspberries annually with the vast majority of these being exported. Fresh raspberry exports from the country account for circa 15% of the global total within the category. This production is garnered from around 7500 hectares of planted production, of which 6500ha are covered with plastic tunnels.
For more information: www.globalplantgenetics.com