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Berry promising future for new rasp Glen Carron

Punnet of Glen Carron raspberries (c) James Hutton Limited
"Glen Carron tastes great, looks great, stores well and can contribute to reducing waste. Everyone that’s tried it is confident that it'll be the variety to look out for this summer"

A new raspberry variety, with exceptional fruit quality and high productivity, was presented at the Scottish Society for Crop Research and Bulrush Soft Fruit Information Day and Winter Meeting 2018.

The new rasp, named Glen Carron, was bred in Dundee by the James Hutton Institute’s commercial subsidiary, James Hutton Limited, funded by a Consortium consisting of the Scottish Government, AHDB and companies from the EU raspberry industry.

Introducing Glen Carron at the SSCR meeting, Jamie Smith, Business Development Manager for James Hutton Limited, said: “Our new raspberry is a new floricane variety that represents our aim to produce high-quality cultivars suitable for low-input systems that can be grown economically.

“The Raspberry Breeding Consortium’s programme is supported by the underpinning science of the James Hutton Institute and uses molecular markers to identify important traits early in the breeding process with the intent to reduce the long timescale of the breeding process.”

James Hutton Limited soft fruit breeder, Nikki Jennings, commented: “Glen Carron came from a cross made in 2004 and began trials in 2010. It has been a firm favourite with growers throughout the UK and Europe during the trialling period down to its superb flavour and looks.

“In short, our new variety tastes great, looks great, stores well and can contribute to reducing waste. Everyone that’s tried it is confident that Glen Carron is the variety to look out for this summer.”

Alison Dolan, SSCR soft fruit subcommittee secretary, said: “As soft fruit growers strive to provide good quality fruit with low production costs to consumers, the Society is happy to highlight new raspberry variety Glen Carron to its members.”

Besides the introduction of new and upcoming soft fruit varieties, presentations at the meeting looked at findings of research projects and best practice for growers and industry. The programme encompassed the following talks:

  • Update of AHDB Project CP138: Transition to responsibly sourced growing media - Chloe Whiteside, ADAS
  • Managing yield instability in blueberries - Antonios Petridis, James Hutton Limited
  • Steps to support the Scottish cherry industry - Julie Graham, James Hutton Institute
  • SSCR project: how does fruit develop in raspberry? A visual approach - Luca Scolari, James Hutton Institute
  • SSCR project: soil carbon stock density on honeyberry farms - Matt Aitkenhead, James Hutton Institute
  • Advances in Foliar Nutrition - Richard Cameron, Omex Agriculture Ltd
  • Utilising resources now and in the future - Alasdair Allan, Agri-Tech
  • New biopesticide options for soft fruit - Paul Tate, Fargro Ltd
  • SSCR project: Blueberry seedling establishment - Susan McCallum, James Hutton Institute
  • SSCR project: Do vine weevil larvae produce antimicrobial substances to avoid colonisation by the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum (anisopliae)? - Pilar Morera Margarit, James Hutton Institute
  • Progress from the RBC raspberry breeding programme - Nikki Jennings, James Hutton Limited
  • 2017 highlights of AHDB fruit research - Scott Raffle, AHDB

Exhibitors at the event included Brinkman Ltd, Clydesdale Trading Society, Fargro, International Water Solutions, Koppert UK, MorePeople, Omex Agriculture and XL Horticulture.

Notes to editors

James Hutton Limited, the James Hutton Institute's commercial subsidiary, manages the breeding programme of the Raspberry Breeding Consortium; a partnership of marketing groups, propagators, AHDB and Scottish Government. The Consortium was born out of the need to ensure that the UK raspberry industry evolves in line with consumer tastes and trends as well as modern growing and production systems and it funds the breeding programme to create new, targeted raspberry varieties, a process accelerated via the innovative science of the James Hutton Institute.

The Scottish Society for Crop Research supports knowledge exchange between science and industry through field events and meetings, science-based publications and research on topics of particular relevance to industry. It is run by a Committee of Management and its activities delivered through sub-committees on soft fruit, potato and combinable crops. See sscr.hutton.ac.uk for more information.

Press and media enquiries: 

Bernardo Rodriguez-Salcedo, Media Manager, Tel: +44 (0)1224 395089 (direct line), +44 (0)344 928 5428 (switchboard) or +44 (0)7791 193918 (mobile).


Printed from /news/berry-promising-future-new-rasp-glen-carron on 19/03/24 09:20:04 AM

The James Hutton Research Institute is the result of the merger in April 2011 of MLURI and SCRI. This merger formed a new powerhouse for research into food, land use, and climate change.