News Focus on: Berries Fruit
B.C.’s Raspberry Replant Program to provide up to $300,000 in new funding

Up to $300,000 in new funding will be available to B.C. growers through the province’s Raspberry Replant Program to continue to revitalize their fields.

“The new investment in this program will help more B.C. growers replant their fields with varieties that will support their businesses and increase the amount and improve the quality of local berries,” said Lana Popham, minister of agriculture, food and fisheries. “Planting varieties that grow well in our climate and produce berries suitable for fresh, specialized frozen and value-added markets will ensure B.C. raspberries continue to be on many of our menus and part of B.C.’s food economy.”

The Raspberry Replant Program helps growers cover some of the expenses incurred when they replace plants of lower-quality berries with varieties that grow well in the coastal climate and are more suitable for fresh, individually quick frozen (IQF) and higher-value processed products. The new funding will help growers replant fields in the spring and fall of 2023.

The new funding allows growers to pre-order plants from nurseries a year in advance, as is typically done by berry growers, while knowing the program is available to support their efforts.

The B.C. government launched the Raspberry Replant Program in the fall of 2020 as part of the province’s economic recovery plan, StrongerBC. The program has supported the replanting of 49 hectares (120 acres) of raspberry fields, and with the new funding, the program will provide as much as $500,000 to support B.C. raspberry growers.