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Fresh still king while AU frozen berry market ramps up

Frozen berries certainly have a future in the Australian retail space, but fresh varieties will not lose appeal for growers, according to Westerway Raspberry Farm’s Richard Clark, whose farm was offered a Nurture Fund grant of $260,000 to introduce new frozen berry technology to Australia on its operations in Tasmania. “Freezing raspberries has been happening in other countries for decades,” he said. “They have low labour costs along with scale and can deliver shipping containers of frozen berries into Australia for a few dollars per kilogram.”
 
Westerway farms will use a liquid nitrogen Individual Quick Frozen (IQF) technique which is said to produce a better quality berry. The cost to consumers will be more expensive than imported frozen berries, but not significantly more, Mr Clark said. “We do not want, or are currently not in the position, to capture all Australian customers purchasing frozen berries. But there are some Australian consumers who find value in buying Australian grown products.” A price point that offers value to a good portion of frozen berry buyers is the main aim, he added.
 
Whatever the demand will be during 2016 and beyond for Westerway’s IQF technique raspberries, the fresh product will continue to offer higher returns for some time to come, Mr Clark said. “I think the market for growing and supplying the fresh berry market in Australia continues to grow quickly and this market has the potential to receive higher prices than the frozen berry market.”
 
The decision to introduce an IQF tunnel was an ‘evolutionary step’ according to Mr Clark. “I think it is feasible for other growers to freeze berries, but it is not just about adopting such technology,” he said. “They would also require current excess growing capacity, a ready supply chain, facilities ready to house such technology, etc.” He also pointed out that Westerway has been growing fresh raspberries for processing for 20 years already, so was set up to introduce IQF tunnel technology relatively quickly.
 
The IQF technology could be used on the other varieties that Westerway grows, Mr Clark said, but the most popular berry was the logical place to start. “We also grow blackberries, blackcurrants, red currants and strawberries and plan on freezing some of these berries too this summer - although raspberries will likely be most popular with customers.”

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