The opening of the borders can cause a strong increase of low-cost foreign fruits importation, creating a strong economic pressure for Swiss producers.
In this context, the Swiss production has to aim at high fruit quality, high work efficiency and environment-friendly production techniques respectful of social conditions. Substrate cultivations grow in importance, with new challenges for the producers. Moreover, in mountain areas the berries production could contribute to production diversification with strong added value crops for direct marketing to tourists.
To meet these challenges, our research focusses on the quality and innovation aspect by working all along the production chain, starting from the choice of the production niche, the variety choice, the cultivation and crop protection system to the fruit quality, always considering the climate changes.
The berry producers meet specific problems needing quick answers. The annual requests of stakeholders (from producers to buyers) are taken into account, worked out according to their priority and presented during the end of year meeting of the Forum Berries (extension).
Scientific work is mainly practice-oriented, but also provides reliable information for researchers, agricultural advisors, administrative and political authorities. The results of our activities are presented in regional, national and international conferences and published in technical and scientific journals. New findings are also made available in the "Small Fruit Guide" published every four years in French and German.
