Market

MARKET UPDATE -
The Oregon "Bluescape" Just Keeps Getting Greener

“The feeling in the industry is that volumes will be up again this year,” said Bryan Ostlund, Administrator of the Oregon Blueberry Commission. “We could certainly be in the 70 million-pound range this year,” which is up significantly from the 65 million pounds moved last year.

Bolstered a bit by half a million pounds of fresh berries going into South Korea, the first time fresh U.S. berries have been allowed in that country, the fresh side of the market continues to expand, Ostlund said.

As for prices, they “continued to remain strong through the entire season, certainly on the fresh side,” Ostlund said.

Thanks to continued, strong promotional programs and good leadership from the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, there has been significant growth in blueberry production on the West Coast, Ostlund said. While Michigan and New Jersey continue to lead in highbush production, “You can just feel that shift in the dynamics to a certain extent.”

Handler Report

“It was a very good season overall,” said Mike Klackle, vice president, berry sales for fresh blueberry packer Curry & Company in Brooks, Oregon. “We’ll take another one like it. The weather was good, timing was good, quality was good, the marketplace was good. From a fresh view, the moon, sun and stars all lined up the right way this year.”

While prices to growers was “down a little bit,” fresh prices have been “significantly higher (with a bigger differential) than for processed blueberries,” Klackle said.

“Curry & Company handled close to twice as much fruit this year than last,” Klackle said. In addition to maturing acreage, the company has picked up new growers and continues to grow imports. “This wasn’t coincidental, it was by plan because we had also enlarged our packing and handling capabilities.”

Klackle said that some of the newly acquired acreage was just coming online.
Curry & Company “got into some complications” with the brand new South Korean export program, but plans to participate next year, Klackle said.

Klackle said that one of the main goals of Curry & Company, which was still harvesting a few blueberries grown at higher elevations towards the end of September, is to eventually become a year-round, large volume handler of the crop with some of the newer varieties as well as production from British Columbia, California and South America greatly expanding availability. Klackle said that Curry & Company is in the market for additional production, provided the varieties and other conditions meet its fresh market needs.

Klackle said that some of the new, later maturing, better storing blueberry cultivars are challenging Elliots, which have for years been “ideal” for their lateness in the season and yield potential, but lacking in flavor. Even with the newcomers, however, “We do not have the perfect late season variety yet,” he said.

One downside to the blueberry industry today, and to other ag sectors, is labor, Klackle said. “It’s one that’s not going away. Labor is getting very costly and there are few hands.” The solution, mechanical pickers that handle fresh fruit tenderly without any damage, is not on the horizon. “We have to think outside the box to figure this out. There are better machines coming out, but still we’re not quite there.”

Nursery Point of View

From the nursery point of view, “This year has been pretty decent,” said Cort Brazelton, director of business/international development for Fall Creek Farm & Nursery, the world’s largest supplier of blueberry planting stock. He added that because of “excellent” prices and demand, fresh market growers continue to plant.

Along with this growth has come a preference for newer material, with a lot of the varieties that worked 10 to 20 years ago not necessarily a good fit today. Many of these new varieties from both public and private breeding programs have been introduced by Fall Creek.

As for what the next five to ten years holds in store for the global blueberry industry, “I’m bullish,” Brazelton said, adding that Asia promises to be one of the bright spots.

Oregon Blueberry Commission • P.O. Box 3366 • Salem, Oregon 97302
Paid for by the Oregon Blueberry Commission, an agency of the State of Oregon.