By: Roger Uddstål, RISE
The forest berry value chain is long and international. In Sweden, local berry picking has almost disappeared and been replaced by foreign berry pickers in collaboration with large wholesalers. There is a local market for wild forest berries, and more local value chains could be created if important obstacles can be overcome. One such obstacle for the berry-pickers is to find the berries in sufficient amounts.
FAIRCHAIN collaborates with RISE and researchers at SLU in Umeå to create knowledge that will make it easier for less experienced pickers to find the best places to pick. A special App has been developed that will be used for mapping the forests and for creating guiding maps for the pickers. The first test of the App was carried out during summer 2021 in an area south of Umeå. Now the information from the survey will be processed to create general models to predict where to find the berries.
During the autumn of 2021, the project will develop strategies for the coming years on how to demonstrate the potential of the App and how it can support an intermediate value chain. We are looking for partners who want to be involved in picking, cleaning, and selling berries in a new value chain. During the autumn, we will start investigating whether we can find a good location for a pilot study.