7 Choosing Raspberry Varieties For Profit Old Farmers Swear By

Choosing a raspberry variety feels simple until you’re standing over a weak, disease-riddled patch wondering where the profit went. The catalog promises buckets of fruit, but the reality of your soil, climate, and market tells a different story. Getting this one decision right at the beginning saves you years of frustration and lost income.

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Key Traits for a Profitable Raspberry Patch

Profit isn’t just about how many berries you grow; it’s about how many you can actually pick, pack, and sell. The best-tasting berry in the world is worthless if it turns to mush before you get to the farmers market. We’re looking for varieties that work for us, not the other way around.

Think beyond just flavor. Key traits for a profitable patch include:

• Yield and Berry Size: High yields are obvious, but berry size impacts picking speed. It takes a lot longer to fill a pint with tiny berries, and your time is money.
• Firmness: This is non-negotiable for market sales. A firm berry withstands picking, transport, and a few hours on a market table.
• Disease Resistance: A plant that shrugs off common fungal issues saves you time, money on sprays, and the heartache of losing a crop. Vigor is its close cousin; a plant that grows aggressively can outcompete weeds and recover from stress.
• Harvest Window: Are you aiming for the first berries of the season to command a premium? Or the last ones when everyone else is sold out? Your timing is a crucial part of your business strategy.

Don’t fall for the trap of choosing the "best tasting" variety if it doesn’t check these other boxes. A slightly less amazing berry that you can reliably get to market will always be more profitable than a delicate, disease-prone one. Your customers want delicious, beautiful fruit, and your business needs a plant that can deliver it consistently.

Latham: The Cold-Hardy, Reliable Summer Red

When you talk to old-timers, Latham is the name that always comes up. There’s a reason this variety has been a staple in northern gardens and farms for nearly a century. It’s the definition of a survivor.

Latham’s superpower is its incredible cold hardiness, reliably producing down to USDA Zone 3. If you face harsh winters that kill back less-sturdy canes, this is your insurance policy. The plants are vigorous and dependable, producing a concentrated crop in mid-summer that’s perfect for U-pick operations or a big jam-making weekend.

The tradeoff is in the berry itself. Latham berries are a bright red and have a classic, slightly tart raspberry flavor, but they aren’t the largest or the firmest on the block. This makes them less ideal for shipping or sitting on a market table for hours. But for direct-to-consumer sales where they’ll be eaten or processed quickly, their reliability is unmatched.

Prelude: First to Market for Early Season Profit

The earliest berry at the market always gets the best price. Prelude is the variety you plant to capture that early-season excitement and profit. It consistently ripens a full two to three weeks before other summer-bearing varieties.

Prelude has a unique growth habit. It’s technically a fall-bearing (primocane) variety, but it produces a significant summer crop on the previous year’s canes (floricanes). For maximum early-season profit, many growers manage it exclusively for that super-early summer crop. That first pint of the year can sell for double what mid-season berries will fetch.

The berries are medium-sized, round, and have a good, solid flavor. They are firm enough for market sales, but their real value is their timing. Planting Prelude is a strategic business decision to extend your season and maximize revenue when customer demand is highest and supply is lowest.

Jewel Black Raspberry: A Firm, High-Yield Favorite

Black raspberries are a different game entirely. They fetch a premium price but can be tricky to grow. If you’re going to try them, Jewel is the place to start.

Jewel is known for three things: high yields, excellent vigor, and wonderfully firm berries. That firmness is critical, as black raspberries are notoriously delicate. Jewel berries hold together, allowing you to get them from the field to the customer without ending up with a pint of purple juice.

They are a summer-bearing variety, so you get one large harvest in early to mid-summer. Be aware that black raspberries are more susceptible to viruses carried by wild brambles, so it’s crucial to remove any wild raspberries or blackberries nearby before planting. Give them good air circulation to ward off fungal diseases, and you’ll be rewarded with a high-value crop that stands out at any market.

Anne Yellow Raspberry: Unique Color, Premium Price

Sometimes, profit comes from standing out. Anne yellow raspberries are an eye-catcher, and their unique color and exceptional flavor can command a premium price. They offer customers something new and exciting.

Anne is a fall-bearing variety with a flavor that is distinctly different from red raspberries—incredibly sweet with hints of apricot. This makes it a destination fruit; people will seek you out specifically for it. It’s perfect for mixing into pints with red or black raspberries to create a beautiful, high-value "jewel box" blend.

The challenge with Anne is that the yields can be lighter than top-performing red varieties. The pale skin also shows every single bruise and blemish, so careful handling is a must. It may not be the workhorse of your patch, but as a specialty crop, it can significantly boost the overall value of your offerings.

Heritage: The Dependable Fall-Bearing Standard

For decades, Heritage has been the go-to variety for fall raspberries, and for good reason. It’s productive, reliable, and incredibly easy to manage. This is the variety you plant when you want a dependable late-season crop with minimal fuss.

The biggest advantage of Heritage is its simple pruning. As a primocane-fruiting variety, you can simply mow or cut the entire patch down to the ground in late winter. There’s no complicated thinning or cane selection, making it a massive time-saver for a busy hobby farmer.

Heritage produces firm, medium-sized berries with a good, classic raspberry flavor. It starts producing in late summer and will continue right up until a hard frost. Its only real weakness is a susceptibility to root rot in heavy, wet soils, and in colder climates, an early frost can cut the most productive part of its season short.

Caroline: Vigorous Growth, Excellent Disease Resistance

Think of Caroline as a modern, improved version of Heritage. It takes everything good about the old standard and makes it better, especially for growers with less-than-ideal conditions. It is known for its exceptional vigor and hardiness.

Caroline’s standout trait is its superior disease resistance, especially to phytophthora root rot, which can devastate a patch in poorly drained soil. This makes it a much safer bet for heavy clay soils. The plants are incredibly vigorous and tend to sucker more, filling in a row quickly.

The berries are larger and have a more intense, complex flavor than Heritage. They also tend to ripen a week or two earlier, which is a huge advantage in northern areas with short growing seasons. For a fall-bearing red, Caroline has become the new standard for many small-scale growers seeking high production and resilience.

Encore: Extend Your Harvest with This Late-Season Red

There’s often a lull in the raspberry season—after the main summer crop is done but before the fall-bearers really get going. Encore is the variety that fills that gap perfectly. It’s a late-season, summer-bearing (floricane) variety that extends your harvest and keeps customers coming back.

Encore produces large, firm, conic-shaped berries with a mild, sweet flavor. Their lighter red color is attractive, and their firmness makes them excellent for market sales. As an added bonus, the canes are nearly spineless, which makes for a much more pleasant picking experience for you or your U-pick customers.

By planting Encore alongside an early variety like Prelude and a fall-bearer like Caroline, you can create a continuous harvest from early summer right through to the first frost. This market presence is key. Being the person who always has raspberries builds a loyal customer base that is the foundation of a profitable small farm.

Ultimately, the most profitable raspberry isn’t a single variety, but a collection of them chosen to match your climate, your soil, and your market strategy. Start with one or two of these proven performers, see what thrives, and build from that success. The best teacher is your own land, and the right plants will make it easy to listen.