Once the farm boy has seen Paris, will he ever be the same?
Manitoba farmer John Ritz hopes not.
The saskatoon berry producer recently attended the SIAL show in Paris in late October, the world’s largest international food exhibition.
With 5,000 exhibitors from 90 countries displaying everything from bubblegum to olive oil, Ritz had one of the truly unique products at the show.
“Saskatoons are coming of age. It’s an emerging industry and the European market is our focus.”
Earlier this year he traveled to England and collected orders for his saskatoons that are processed as a fancy fruit topping. They are packaged in decorative 270 millilitre glass jars and in larger pails for restaurants.
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Ritz and his wife Kim want their Prairie Lane Saskatoons brand name recognized on the international stage.
But first they have to do some consumer education.
As people approached his display at the Canadian pavilion, there were two questions.
“What are saskatoons?”
“Are they genetically altered?”
The questions gave the affable Ritz the opportunity he needed. He regaled visitors with stories of buffalo, pemmican making and Indians on the plains.
To top off the western lore, he gave visitors heaping spoonfuls of plump, tasty berries cooked in their own juice.
As people complimented him on his product, Ritz was able to explain to tasters from China, Portugal and the Middle East that this prairie berry is actually from the apple family.
He can also promise those conscious about food safety that they are eating a natural product with no genetically modified organisms. This is a real boon in the sensitive European market.
There was one unexpected obstacle. Since no one in Europe knows what saskatoons are, they did not know what tariff level to apply. Ritz said a new rate was created.
Overall, he found the show promising. Potential clients might not understand what the prairies or saskatoons are, but as educated consumers and food brokers they were familiar with Canada and the quality of food it produces.
Homework to do
“The show is the preliminary and then you come home and put the puzzle together.”
There was a lot of interest in buying his frozen berries, but Ritz has opted to continue processing on the farm instead of shipping out another raw food commodity from Canada.
An additional bonus from his post at the show was meeting Canadians interested in fruit toppings for the retail trade.
“I had to go all the way to France to meet someone from next door.”
Prairie Lane Farm was established in 1991 to produce saskatoons for the hospitality industry. It sells the berries as a fruit topping for ice cream, cakes, toast or waffles. Berries are handpicked.
They are then frozen and processed at the farm.
