Like Florida, Georgia will start its blueberries this season approximately 10-14 days late.
“Georgia had good growing conditions with an excellent number of chill hours which will increase the quality. But I see Georgia being later,” says Lee Kimball of Somerfield Farms LLC based out of Wilmington, NC. Harvest will likely begin in the middle of week 17 and peak will be week 18 through to week 21. “Last year we were picking pretty heavily by week 15,” he adds.
Harvest for Georgia blueberries will likely begin in the middle of week 17. Last year, picking was pretty heavy by week 15.
That might work well to contend with Florida’s crop. “It will keep a bit of separation from the peak volume of Florida and the time Georgia starts. It could have been bad if Georgia started early on top of Florida’s peak,” says Kimball. The Highbush blueberry crop will get picked until around the first of June and then Rabbiteye blueberries will start in June and go throughout the month.
Slight later NC start
Meanwhile while North Carolina also generally starts week 18, it will more likely start around May 10th and go into July with fruit.
Currently, Florida is beginning production and next week will start harvesting daily. Peak in Florida should hit weeks 14-16 and the crop looks strong in terms of quality, flavor and size says Kimball. Florida will harvest through to the middle of May. At the same time imports are also currently coming in from Mexico but also still Chile as well, though Kimball notes the quality isn’t as strong in Chilean blueberries currently.
Byron Massey, owner of Somerfield Farms, examining blueberry bushes.
With anticipated good demand for domestic blueberries, pricing is likely about to shift. “Because Florida is slightly delayed and because of the amount of the Chilean fruit, I believe there’s going to be a big swing in the market,” Kimball says. “Mexico is the wildcard. With the volume they have right now, their pricing is not where historically where it needs to be. And with the exit of the Chilean fruit, I think the market will react to the limited amount of Florida fruit and we’ll see a swing up in price in weeks 12 and 13.” Because it’s the start of the domestic season, there’s likely to be more premium pricing on Florida fruit. “That premium will maintain for four weeks and as we get into the peak of the Florida crop, there’ll be opportunities to promote. We’ll have four weeks of a very strong market with high demand and tight Florida supplies. By week 16 there will be opportunities to promote Florida and getting ready for the convergence of Florida, Georgia and Mexican fruit all at the same time.”
Technology upgrade
Coming into this season, Somerfield Farms, who before being a marketing company was a farm management technology supplier, is building on the technology investments it made last season. Along with implementing a software platform that manages multiple aspects of farming such as food safety (including full traceability of product), inventory management and more, it also invested in Unitec’s Blueberry Vision 3, a sizer, sorter and grader. Kimball says it’s the only one on the East Coast and has helped sort fruit more closely. “We’re able to cut down on the amount of good fruit getting cut out and more is going into the cup. The grower is getting a better return on the crop and fruit that could be for fresh isn’t going into processing and bad fruit isn’t getting through into the clamshells,” he says.
Somerfield's new sizer, sorter and grader helps the grower sort fruit more closely.
And in the age of COVID-19, the machine also allows for fewer hands touching the fruit. “Once fruit generally goes through a sorter, it goes through a pick out table with four to 20 people standing over that pick out line. We don’t have a pick out line,” he says. The machine has also let Somerfield pack a premium jumbo line of fruit.
For more information:
Lee Kimball
Somerfield Farms LLC
Tel: +1 (888) 299-3112
[email protected]
http://www.somerfieldfarms.com/