Arbroath-based Angus Soft Fruits has announced it has an exclusive licence agreement with the Sant Orsola raspberry breeding programme in northern Italy for the floricane raspberry varieties Lagorai Plus and Vajolet.
The agreement gives Angus Soft Fruits Ltd the exclusive right to plant, propagate, cultivate, grow and produce the varieties in the United Kingdom and to promote, market and distribute the fruits all over the world.
John Gray, commercial director for ASF said: “A number of our growers have been testing these varieties for a number of years and were pleased with the results.
“Our strong relationship with Sant Orsola reflects our wish to ensure that both our retail customers and our Angus Soft Fruit Growers in Scotland and England are at the forefront of varietal development, whether that is through our own breeding programme or by collaborating with international breeders.
“What matters to ASF is that the best berries are grown in order to deliver quality and customer satisfaction.
“The new varieties yield better than Glen Ample with large, well-flavoured, sweet berries and have a good shelf life, making them good varieties for growers and retailers and ultimately the consumer.”
Marion Durose, new product development manager for Angus Soft Fruits Ltd, added: “Negotiations with Sant Orsola for the licences were straight forward and agreed and finalised in Milan before Christmas.
“Our growers were fortunate to have a presentation from a member of the Sant Orsola team in November on Lagorai Plus and Vajolet and other new varieties that are in the pipeline for Sant Orsola.
“We will visit the breeding programme in Italy with a number of growers this season and continue to build on the excellent knowledge sharing relationship already in place.
“In addition ASF remain enthused by a number of raspberry selections from the ASF breeding programme which will be in larger trials next season.
“In all, 2014 promises to be an interesting year for research and development at Angus Soft Fruits as further investment has resulted in doubling the size of the strawberry breeding programme to 30,000 seedlings and increasing the raspberry programme to 8,000 seedlings.
“We will also start a blackberry breeding programme. All in all we will be busier than ever in the coming year.”