The culture of raspberries is thought to have begun around 1629 when selections were made for larger fruit and by 1800, selection for better varieties became more popular. The Scottish raspberry industry got started at the beginning of the twentieth century when a group of market gardeners in Angus decided to move from strawberry to raspberry production and joined together as a co-operative. Soldiers returning from WW1 were often gifted small acreages from wealthy landowners and many chose to grow raspberries on this land, cementing raspberries as part of Scotland's cultural heritage.Raspberry production was Raspberry production in Scotland has been supported by breeding work at the Scottish Crop Research Institute which has been successful in developing new raspberry varieties with desirable characteristics suited to the Scottish climate. These include improved flavour, yield, disease resistance and nutritional qualities. The raspberry acreage in Scotland has declined in recent years but an increased market for fresh raspberries could halt or even reverse this trend in the future.