Blueberry Industry And Market Agri-News July 2014
NABC & USHBC Fall Meeting Registration Open
October 1-3, 2014 – Rosemont, IL (Chicago)
Direct to Eventbrite Registration
NABC Website Link
Produce Handling Recommendations For Berry Growers And Producers
Hillphonenix Makes Recommendations To Battle Deterioration of Berries
Hillphoenix White Paper: “The Challenges Of Retail Berry Marketing” (PDF)
Summary of recommendations:
- Maintain the same hygiene standards as restaurant workers
- Pick all of the fruit on a single bush before moving on to the next
- Harvest only well-ripened fruit and leave immature fruit until the next harvest
- Handle berries from below to keep them from dropping
- Avoid handling too much fruit at a time to prevent squeezing or rolling the berries
- Separate poor-quality berries from good ones
- Prevent harvested fruit from sitting out in the sun
Hillphoenix – Leading Supplier of Refrigeration – A Dover Company
Fresh thinking. Responsible solutions.™
Recommended Reading: SupermarketNews.com
Consumers pay a premium for berries, but freshness is a challenge for retailers
USDA Celebrates Blueberries
USDA Touts Blueberries As Good For Health, Good For State Economies
Full USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Blog: Celebrating the Blueberry – A Fruit and an Industry That Really Packs a Punch
The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service acknowledges July as National Blueberry Month and shares some of the ways it is promoting the commodity via the Commodity Procurement Program and Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. In particular, the AMS purchased a total of 26.7 million pounds of fresh and frozen berries to be distributed via school, family and community nutrition programs.
Other Recommended Reads
Blueberry Quality and Plant Nutrition – Michigan State University Extension
Summary: “Thoughts On Questions About Optimizing Blueberry Quality Through Plant Nutrition” – READ
Blueberry Industry Summary From “The Packer” – READ
