Vision succeeding for Prairie Berries

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

With the addition of 100,000 new trees presently underway, Saskatchewan’s own Prairie Berries Inc. is on it’s way to becoming the largest saskatoon orchard in the world.

Currently, the orchard founded and operated by Sandy Purdy near Keeler has 10 acres of saskatoons; however, with an investment from an Alberta business partner, the operation will expand by some 120 acres.

“It has always been the company’s plan to expand,” Purdy said. “Our vision statement from the day we started Prairie Berries was to be recognized worldwide for the supply of saskatoons in the international market.” This expansion is certainly a step in the right direction.

Purdy outlined several factors that played a role in the decision to increase the company’s size at this point in time. “The market opportunities that are being presented to us by customers, both in the domestic and the international marketplace, have had a major impact in our decision,” she stated.

“With that in mind, these opportunities require a guarantee on our part to ensure an adequate supply to our clients year over year. The expansion was a strategy that we undertook to make sure we had a certain volume of supply that we knew we could count on every year.”

Prairie Berries currently pulls its supply from 27 growers across all three Prairie provinces. But Purdy says they needed to increase that in order to hit their targets throughout the next five years. The risk was that many of these operations were established as u-pick orchards, so the supply numbers were small and could fluctuate quite a bit from year to year.

“This situation was somewhat threatening to our supply guarantee,” she said. “By expanding, we are able to guarantee 40 per cent of our total supply using our own orchard. This brings the risk down considerably.”

Purdy feels that saskatoons have become more popular over the years for several reasons. First is an increased awareness brought about by the marketing initiatives of Saskatoon Berry Partners Inc., an organization Purdy formed in 2003 which amalgamates the efforts of over a dozen growers to increase supply and provide added value, both to the market and for the individual growers. Using a value chain management system, the growers are able to work together towards common goals.

Second, saskatoons hold health properties that are very attractive to consumers. Eating three-quarters of a cup (around 100 grams) of saskatoons provides 24 per cent of the recommended daily intake of fibre. “With trends in the marketplace for more nutritional foods, and demographics looking to change the way people eat, a diet high in fibre can have significant positive health benefits,” Purdy suggested.

Third, the antioxidant properties of saskatoons also contribute to improved health. “Research studies that we have done in the past couple of years have proved that saskatoons are about two to three times higher in antioxidants than blueberries,” she stated. Although there are several ways to measure antioxidants, the study was done using the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) scalar value.

Fourth, Purdy feels that proactive strategies aimed at changing people’s lifestyles and eating habits have helped to create an increased demand for saskatoons.

Purdy says she wants to see Saskatchewan become more self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables. She says that Prairie Berries hopes to contribute to that vision by being recognized as a major player in the overall Saskatoon market with respect to both supply and processing.

Prairie Berries currently has a primary and a secondary processing plant. However, given the projected demand, Purdy says these plants are not big enough to handle the required supply. The company’s ideal vision is to consolidate the primary and secondary plants into a single, centralized operation which can handle larger volumes.

With this centralized location, they will not only be able to support their own berries, but other growers who may have market opportunities if they are able to get their berries handled and processed in a federally inspected facility.

For more information, contact:

Sandy Purdy
Prairie Berries Inc.
E-mail: prairieberries@sasktel.net
Website: www.prairieberries.com

Clarence Peters
Fruit Development Specialist
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
Phone: (306) 788-2018
Phone: 306-787-4666