Washington Blueberries

With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. We've already told you about the record Red Raspberry crop enjoyed by Washington growers, but Blueberries in our state were booming as well in 2016 ...

CHRIS BENEDICT ... "Actually, this year and I believe last year, we're number one in the country in terms of tonnage. This area has exploded in production. 10 years ago, we might have had a couple thousand acres at the most. Now, we're pushing north of 8,000 acres and Skagit County, which is just south of here, is a major producer as well."

WSU Extension Specialist Chris Benedict says the state is largely divided with most of the organic growers based east of the Cascades. He says the organic growers are also leaders in the industry who send their product to the fresh market, directly to consumers...

CHRIS BENEDICT ... "Here we're mostly focused on the process industry. Because of the raspberry industry and the infrastructure that makes that run, which includes the freezing equipment, but also the storage capacity. The ability to store that product and sell it. So, that's why most of the focus is up here."

About 70 % of Washington's berries are processed for ice cream, pastries, mixed frozen berries, dried, and juice concentrate.

The other 30 % are sold in the fresh market.

275 growers in our state farm blueberries on 15,000 acres. In all, the state's producers are looking at production of 118 million pounds of blueberries this year, up from 103 million a year ago.