The blueberry world gathered in Canada from 24 to 29 August for the 13th International Symposium. The event was held at the Dalhousie Agricultural Campus in Halifax and at the conference center in Charlottetown, Nova Scotia. The contact person for the ISHS berries division was Professor Bruno Mezzetti.
A moment during the Symposium
"Forecasts speak of at least another five years of growth for the blueberry market. The most interesting areas are America and Asia, followed by Europe. China is certainly an emerging country, but it will then be necessary to verify whether it will be an easy market to reach or a complicated one, as it happened with strawberries after an initial enthusiasm."
Incidentally, the next International Symposium will be held precisely in China (Nanjing) in four years' time. "There are also those producer countries that have recorded strong growth in recent years, such as Peru, Morocco and Spain for the southern areas, and Poland for the northern areas. Italy has also recorded a slight growth, but our production is still lower than consumption and we have to import for several months of the year."
Bruno Mezzetti
On the varietal front, numerous research projects have been initiated in recent years, mainly by private companies, and not in Italy. "Perhaps we will risk ending up with too many varieties, but we will certainly never reach the levels of other species, such as strawberries."
Harvesting technologies
It should be emphasized that in recent times, in order to favor the expansion into subtropical and tropical areas, genetic improvement has included programs of inter-specific crosses that have made it possible to obtain new varieties suitable for hot climates, due to the fact that they have low cold requirements (southern bush) or are evergreen (evergreen).
Unitec was the main sponsor
"Another aspect that has emerged is that of wild blueberries destined to be frozen and sold to industries for processing into juice or to be used as an ingredient in sweets (such as muffins)," concludes Mezzetti, one of the very few Italians (only three? ed.) present at the symposium.
For more information
International Blueberry Symposium 2024 ISHS