British blueberry growers are faced with very low prices; growing competition from Peru has made it too difficult to continue cultivation. The news comes as this year’s UK blueberry season reaches its peak, running primarily from July to November, though growers from Scotland to Herefordshire are already reducing their growing area for the long-term.
Fruit grower Ross Mitchell: “With blueberry growing in the UK being squeezed so much by cheap imports, it’s resorted to turning them into compost. These bushes were some of the first planted in the UK. As a nation, we are happy to outsource our food security. How sustainable is that model?”
Mitchell said he has grubbed up 10 out of his 90 hectares of blueberries this year, and will be also be looking to diversity into non farming activities. “Polish crops have always been there and [they are] not a cheap product so we can compete. It’s Peruvian mainly that’s flooding the market and with their cost of labor we cannot compete.”
The lower prices have in part been driven by new breeding in blueberry varieties, which traditionally required frost to mature buds into flowering and meant that most fruit was grown in colder regions like Scotland. With the newer varieties, warmer countries like Peru have been able to accelerate their production and flood the global market.
Source: wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk