As the blueberry harvest from Peru is once again delayed, the European market is hot. Fruit from South Africa is now in demand. Sebastian Ochoa, owner of Consultora Agrícola Santa María who is a global blueberry expert, is currently visiting the country to check on the OZBlue orchards: "South African blueberry fields look good, the market is very hot, there's no fruit in Europe."
Ochoa visited blueberry farms just outside Cape Town, and is now travelling up north to view more fields and advise growers. "The quality in South Africa is very good. There's nice and big fruit on the trees with good bloom and berries that are crunchy with nice flavour."
Ochoa has a unique view of the global blueberry industry, he visits different fields in different countries and regions almost every other week. Hailing from Chile, with regular visits to Peru as well, he is able to compare all the key aspects and growth indicators in the blueberry fields of these different countries. Ochoa provides technical support in blueberry production, due diligence, and commercial consulting worldwide.
Why is Peru harvest delayed?
"Peru will harvest later again, because many companies pruned very late to get more fruit and due to this production is delayed. Their production will be less than normal, but it will still be more than last year. They produce the fruit when they can and that's it. They are late and will have a lot of fruit between October and November. Although it will be less fruit than a normal year, this is caused by the blueberry plants that are very small because the pruning was too late. Growers delayed pruning because the plants were affected by El Niño. As the plants had fewer buds, flowers etc, growers delayed the pruning to give more days of harvest and recover production," explains Ochoa.
Good winter in Chile
In his home country of Chile, the blueberries are in winter rest, where he has viewed many orchards last week. "Chile is in winter now. In the orchard that I saw last week, some of the plants are just starting to wake up with the buds opening up. Everything is normal until now. It is still too early to say something about the Chilean blueberry season. Winter is normal with the required chill hours. We are happy with the winter, the plants look OK, but it's too early to say anything," concludes Ochoa, who is heading back to Chile over the weekend after visiting and consulting for blueberry growers across South Africa.
For more information:
Sebastian Ochoa
Consultora Agrícola Santa María
Tel: +56 9 8209 9472
Email: [email protected]