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| Figure 63. Titan red raspberry. |
Bramble fruits, raspberries, and blackberries, which ripen shortly after strawberries or later in August or September, can extend the small fruit producer's harvest season. Although bramble fruits comprise a small portion of the Ohio fruit basket, many producers are doing an excellent job of raising and managing their brambles. The area in which managers fall short is marketing. In spite of the fact that marketing is one of the most critical factors to the long-run success of the operation, it is the one that is most neglected. Like most agricultural producers, bramble growers are producers first, managers second, and marketers last.
The management of bramble production in Ohio does have many unique, limiting factors, such as soil, site, climate, cultivar, disease, spacing, and money. Two years are required to establish a raspberry planting. Its production per acre is half that of strawberries. Planting, pruning, and harvesting brambles remain, to a great extent, hand chores. The raspberry must be ripe before it is picked; therefore, growers can't harvest it green and ship it to distant markets ahead of season. Good production depends mainly on adequate moisture, proper pruning, and control of diseases. The high cost of machinery, irrigation, quality plants, fungicides, herbicides, and labor requirements may be a major roadblock that prevents many producers from jumping head first into the bramble market.
Many small, independent fruit producers find it increasingly difficult to market their berries. Eighty percent of all fresh fruits and vegetables sold at the retail level are presently handled by chain stores in the United States. The berry has a very short shelf life-one day, with possibly another day if refrigerated. Despite all these obstacles, many producers are doing an excellent, profitable job producing and marketing bramble fruits.
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| Figure 63. Titan red raspberry. |