Haskap berries will have their national moment in the spotlight this July, and a couple of local growers are spearheading the effort.
Trena and Wayne Zacharias of West St. Paul have taken the lead on establishing Canada’s first national Haskap Berry Days. The event is designed to educate the public on the berry, which is a relative agricultural newcomer to Manitoba, and promote it for its nutritional profile.
Haskap growers say the berries, marketed as something between a raspberry and a blueberry in flavour, are well suited for the Manitoba climate and are a nutritional superfood.
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Being new to haskaps themselves, the couple saw an opportunity for national promotion while working toward a support network of Canadian growers.
Trena Zacharias contacted fellow haskap grower John Dicks, who owns North 45 Orchards in Nova Scotia. While talking business, the idea emerged for an event that would kick off berry-picking season. Such an event would be mutually beneficial, they agreed.
“We just got a whole bunch of other growers together — at least one from each province for representation — and started having meetings to get the ball rolling for Haskap Berry Days,” Zacharias said.
This year’s inaugural event is planned July 3 to 9.
Wayne and Trena Zacharias are members of the Haskap Canada Association, but Haskap Berry Days is not associated with that organization. The event is organized by a group of growers across the country, who issued a press release saying it is “aimed at promoting and educating Canadians about the outstanding health benefits and incredible flavour of this power-packed super fruit.”
The grand opening of Haskap Prairie Orchards will coincide with the national event.
The Manitoba couple started their operation in 2021 and had hoped to open last year, but were hindered by the 2021 drought. That, followed by a cool, wet spring in 2022, led to a crop insufficient to generate revenue.
They have more hopes for this year.
Zacharias said the orchard has developed a strong social media following and the couple expects a good crowd for the grand opening this summer.
According to Vasantha Rupasinghe, a professor specializing in functional goods and nutraceuticals at the Faculty of Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, haskaps have been ramping up in recent years.
“Haskap production in Canada has expanded exponentially in the last decade as a result of new varieties being developed and scientific evidence for potential therapeutic use in the prevention and treatment of various metabolic diseases,” Rupasinghe said.
He called the berry “a very promising crop for Canada with some desirable traits of resilience to extreme weather conditions, a broad range of soils and early harvesting compared to other Canadian fruit crops.”
