Blueberry Harvest Pt 2

Blueberry Harvest Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. The harvest of Washington blueberries is well underway with projections down a little from earlier in the season, but still has the potential to be a record breaking season.

But, Washington Blueberry Commission director Alan Schreiber says that's a little misleading ...

ALAN SCHREIBER ... "People seem to be inordinately focused on record production every year. To me that's not really the interesting part of the story. The interesting part of the story is, for the most part, demand has kept up with supply. All these berries are getting sold."

Schreiber says due to increased blueberry acreage, projections for this year are currently 10-million more pounds than last year ...

ALAN SCHREIBER ... "I think that the supply has crept up on us and I think in certain, but not all sectors, you're seeing a little softening of the price and I think that, in turn, has stimulated increased demand."

Schreiber says it's an industry divided four ways ...

ALAN SCHREIBER ... "We've got a conventional fresh, we've got an organic fresh, we've got an organic processing, and a conventional processing. And, we've got four vibrant sectors and they're just, I don't want to say amazing, but it's quite remarkable that there's been such demand for Washington blueberries."

Schreiber says projections for this year were adjusted from 140-million to 130-million pounds ... compared to last year's 120-million pounds.

Harvest in Whatcom County is expected to run well into September.

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