USA: California would have a greater harvest of blueberries than last season
With the California blueberry season already in full swing, estimates so far predict a significant increase in harvests, compared to the previous season.
According to the director of the Cranberry Commission of California CBC, Todd Sanders told PortalFrutícola.com, for this year there are great expectations.
"We expect a significantly larger crop than last year," he said, indicating that the increase would respond to two reasons.
"One, which is just a bigger crop in general, I think a lot of products, not just cranberries, but cherries, apples, everything in the state of California is going to be a little bigger than normal. Second, last year we had about an 25% crop loss due to frost, maybe an 30%, "he explained.
However, Sanders commented that the 2019 volumes will not only surpass last year, but will surpass those of a typical season.
"Compared to last year, we'll be a bigger 30%, but on average, it's probably from 10 to 15% larger than we would normally be."
He estimated that California will see this increase in production despite its late start of harvests. Regarding backwardness he commented that "this year we are arriving a little late ... There has been some cooler weather ... so we are between seven to ten days later than normal".
"Normally, the harvest in Southern California would begin to increase about a week ago, but ... we're just starting to get our blueberries," he said.
As to how the delay could affect market conditions, Sanders noted that "everyone is a little behind."
He added that "Mexico took a little longer, so their season is running on ours, and if we fall behind a bit, our season arrives in Oregon ... everyone is a little behind."
He commented that blueberries throughout the state are beginning to "color" in large quantities and it is likely that the warmer climate will reach California this week, so temperatures are expected to rise to more than 32 ° C.
As a result, producers "will see that all these high quality fresh blueberries appear, not all at once, but in significant volumes. Then, the movement of the fruit will be paramount. "
He emphasized that organic blueberries are going to play a key role this year, with the volume of the "almost double" category of 2018.
"I think the organic category will be continually growing, at what level it is sustainable that I am not sure, but it will continue to grow as the market, especially domestic and especially California, demands it."
According to Sanders, part of this can be attributed to a new method of growing cranberries: substrates. Instead of waiting years for the soil to be adequate enough to obtain the "organic" label, many California growers are planting blueberries on substrates, which are on the ground. This allows farmers to grow organic products quickly to meet the growing demand for the fruit.
While Sanders noted that this demand occurs throughout the country, he commented that "California is really pushing that organic category and it's just going to keep growing ... the Californian consumer is definitely oriented to want more and more organic food and this is something that satisfies that need".
The executive said he believes that other categories will be fine and added that "we expect a positive and strong season this year. I know that the berries that started to be harvested ... of good quality, good color, good size, so I anticipate that the trend will continue ".
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