Blueberries

I have a passion for blueberries. Most mornings for me start with a bowl of blueberries mixed with yogurt or granola or both. Alan Schreiber, with the Washington Blueberry Commission talks about where they are grown in the state.

SCHREIBER: Roughly 40% are in Eastern Washington. 40% in Whatcom County. About 10% in Skagit and 10% throughout the rest of Western Washington. We had more blueberries this year than we did last year and more blueberries than the year before, than the year before, than the year before. So we’ve had more blueberries than we have had.

Michigan was the nation's leading producer of cultivated blueberries; the state harvested 87 million pounds in 2012. Other top producers included Georgia, Oregon, Washington and New Jersey. Schrieber says there is a lot of demand for blueberries.

SCHREIBER: There’s a lot interest in blueberries and so growers have responded by planting to meet demand.

Blueberries rank as the second most important commercial berry crop in the United States, with a total crop value of more than $781.8 million in 2012. Schreiber says that picking blueberries is labor intensive.

SCHREIBER: We can machine pick processed blueberries but it hasn’t been very successful to machine pick fresh blueberries. We would like to automate so we’re not so dependent upon hand labor for fresh blueberries

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