11/1/2007 Increasing Blueberry Production

Increasing Blueberry Production. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Blueberries have been getting a lot of good press lately and that has caused blueberry demand to surge. Consumers just can't seem to get enough and that is good news for producers. Traditionally in Washington State blueberries are grown on the west side but according to Alan Schreiber, Director of the Washington Blueberry Commission a lot of Eastern Washington farmers to look at adding blueberries. SCHREIBER: Some growers figured out how to grow blueberries in non-traditional blueberry areas. Blueberry production has historically been defined by acidic soils. But they found out a way to grow blueberries in the alkaline soils of Eastern Washington. Schreiber says there are some definite advantages to growing blueberries on the east side of the state. SCHREIBER: There are some advantages to blueberries in Eastern Washington, for one thing they mature earlier; we don't have the diseases  there are not insects of consequence over here that they have on the other side of the state. Washington blueberry production lags behind Oregon and California and is ranked 6 in the U.S. But with the additional production in Eastern Washington Schreiber is optimistic that production will increase. SCHREIBER: Five years ago I would say that maybe 1% of the blueberries in the state were here in Eastern Washington. I'll bet in another 5 years, half of the blueberries in the state will be in Eastern Washington. There are more acres in western than eastern and they will probably continue to be more acres in western than eastern but the rate of growth is higher in Eastern Washington. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.