Red raspberry
promotion program
Getting the crop from the field to consumers
Washington raspberry growers currently cooperate to fund the Washington Red Raspberry Commission (WRRC) which oversees research projects designed to help growers improve production and realize top quality berries. The WRRC also funds some health based research on the nutraceutical properties of raspberries and helps to encourage new product development. The WRRC has also led Fair Trade battles against foreign competitors who violated federal anti-dumping laws.
Raspberry marketing has been a part of the WRRC work plan since it was organized in 1976. But changes in the worldwide market have presented challenges to our marketing strategy. It has been difficult for us to invest large sums in promotion when an increasingly large percentage of US berry consumption is supplied by imports. Over 45% of the frozen raspberries consumed in the US in 2006 came from offshore. We ask ourselves, “Why should we assess ourselves to build markets when our foreign competitors get the primary benefit?”
We sense that we need only to look towards the blueberry farmers for an answer to this dilemma. Washington’s raspberry growers have nowhere near the marketing budgets of our strawberry and blueberry neighbors. Blueberry farmers around the nation set up the US Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) in 2001 and the investment they were able to make in research and development has contributed to a large degree to record blueberry prices in recent years. The USHBC is an example of a USDA Research and Promotion Program (R & P).
The WRRC is convinced that forming the US Red Raspberry Council will provide us the means to allow all raspberry growers to cooperate in marketing and also assess imported berries for funds to support our marketing efforts. Establishing an R & P program will require a grower referendum following extensive public hearings over the next months. Grower involvement and guidance is crucial to the establishment of the program.We urge you to research this issue and make your opinions known.
Raspberry growers delivered an application to form the United States Red Raspberry Council (USRRC) to the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC in late April, 2007. After many months of review the USDA published a proposed rule to create the USRRC in May, 2009. They received comments on the proposal through early June and are currently reviewing these comments. Most of the comments were very favorable and supportive of the proposal. We anticipate the USDA will administer a grower referendum on the establishment of the Raspberry Council later in 2009.
Click here for the complete news release concerning the promotion program, including answers to frequently asked questions and links to the.USDA website.
