| Several varieties of berries are grown
commercially in British Columbia. Blueberries, cranberries,
raspberries and strawberries are the most prevalent. About 95%
of B.C.’s berry production occurs in the Fraser Valley. The
rest are grown in the North Okanagan and on Vancouver Island.
Blueberries
BC produces about 95% of the Canadian production of
cultivated blueberries. This is about 18 million kilograms per
year. About 50% of these are processed; the others are bought
fresh for export and local consumption through stores and
farmgate outlets. In BC, about 3500 ha are farmed by over 450
farm families.
Cranberries
Almost all, 95%, of BC's cranberries are grown for the
processing market. The rest are sold as fresh berries. BC produces about
26 million kilograms of cranberries
which is valued at $12 million. These berries are grown by 50
family farm operations on 1150 producing hectares.
Raspberries
The crop can be grown in all but the very harshest parts
of the province, but over 98% of the raspberries are produced
near Abbotsford in the Central Fraser Valley. Minor centres of
production are the Salmon Arm/North Okanagan area and
southeastern Vancouver Island.
More than one-half of Canada’s raspberry area is in
British Columbia. A total of 693 farms reported growing
raspberries on 5,500 acres ( Source: Statistics Canada Census
Data 2001)
BC's raspberry production varies depending on winter
injury, growing conditions and acreage planted. In the last
few years production as been as high as 20 million kg and as
low as 11 million kg. This quantity of fruit would equate to
about 650 to 1100 semi-trailer truckloads of fruit.
Strawberries
BC accounts for about one-quarter of the Canadian production
of strawberries. This is over 3 million kg of strawberries
worth $6 million. However, Canada consumes far more
strawberries than it produces. The bulk of fresh imports come
from California and Florida with processed imports originating
from California, Poland and Mexico.
Excerpt: BCMAL Farm
Practices and
About
the Industry
Tables:
Selected Berry Statistics:
Related Areas:
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