By Brent Bosker

Local haskap grower taking his expertise on the road

Oct 3, 2011 | 11:41 AM

Considered the epicentre for breeding and growing haskap in Canada, Saskatchewan growers are now being looked to for their knowledge and expertise on the emerging fruit crop.

One of those growers is Curtis Braaten. As the owner of Haskap Central Sales near Prince Albert, he is a pioneer in the haskap industry and has been since the University of Saskatchewan made him one of the first licensed propagators of the purplish-blue berry, which has been a part of the university's fruit breeding program since 2007.

Besides growing the crop on his orchard north of Prince Albert, Braaten has been finding innovative ways to add value to the berry and just last year added a consulting service to his business.

His first consulting job will be later this week in Nova Scotia, where he was hired by Lahave Forests, a UK firm which wants to establish the world’s largest biodynamic haskap orchard. Biodynamic is a method of organic farming.

“They did a lot of investigation on this crop (and) determined that the Nova Scotia region … is in their idea the best place on earth to grow this crop.”

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Braaten will spend about three days going through the orchard and demonstrating different growing techniques.

Lahave Forests is one of Haskap Central Sales’ largest customers and Braaten said they’re an example of the fruit industry sitting up and taking notice of the berry’s potential as a viable commercial crop.

“They just want to process it into anything that is profitable,” Braaten said.

“They’re trying everything right now and whatever hits and sticks that is what they will stay with.”

Following his trip to Nova Scotia, Braaten will travel to Grand Forks, British Columbia where he was invited to give a presentation about the opportunities in haskap production.

“There are some local investors and the city that are looking at a new economic driver for their valley,” Braaten said, while he was putting the finishing touches on his slide show.

Although haskap is still years away from sitting next to the mighty blueberry or strawberry in the grocery store, Braaten said the market is ripe with distributors snapping up the limited supply that is available.

“Most people are familiar with Booster Juice and their smoothies. They’re looking for 60,000 pounds per month … this industry is quite a ways away from that yet.”

It is that demand which has Braaten convinced the industry is headed for great things. However, he acknowledges the industry needs more growers and further development on the processing side before the industry can really take root.

bbosker@panow.com