More on Record Blueberry Crop

More on Record Blueberry Crop. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

This years blueberry crop is estimated at about 80-million pounds which would be the third record crop in a row. Executive Director of the Washington Blueberry Commission, Alan Schreiber says in order for the industry to keep growing there will need to be some adjustments.

SCHREIBER: We have to increase our packing and holding capacity which we are doing. Also as an industry we need to develop new markets and we are aggressively working on developing export markets. We have a big eye towards Asian markets. South Korea, Taiwan, China, Vietnam are all market that we are eyeing with an intent to develop those markets.

Schreiber estimates that only about 20% of their berries go into the export market and that includes Canada so there is a lot of room for growth there. And while a lot of blueberries wind up in the grocery store, Schreiber says with a crop this large:

SCHREIBER: Because of the price of berries more of it is shifting towards processed so I would estimate two-thirds processed, one-third fresh. You know the fresh market can only handle so much but with the price being a little lower this year it makes blueberries very attractive so we’re hoping for a lot of movement.

I for one am seeing some blueberry pancakes in my future and perhaps some blueberry muffins.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.