Best crop of raspberries for 10 years

The states of the Pacific Northwest have seen raspberry production increase by almost 20% over the previous year.

The states of Washington, Oregon and British Columbia recorded a total of 99.7 million pounds (45.2 million kilos) raspberry. This is up 20% over last year making it the best crop for 10 years and the second best of all time, according to the Washington Red Raspberry Commission.

Good weather, an increase in growing area and new varieties have led to this increase in production. The Meeker variety accounted for 60% of new plantations in 2010, followed by Wakefield, Chemainus, Willamette and Cascade Bounty.

In 2010 the U.S. state of Washington produced 72.2 million pounds (32.9 million kilos), Oregon 5 million pounds (2.2 million kilos) and the Canadian province of British Columbia 22.5 million pounds (10.2 million kilos).