Ample volume for the summer berries is seen by growers and shippers, despite some weather issues, for a few growing areas, but on the whole, shipments of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries look promising for the next few months.
Strawberries
California’s fall-planted strawberry acreage for winter, spring and summer production was 26,982 acres, up 4.3 percent from 2019’s 25,868 acres
As of May 30, the state’s growers had shipped about 81.3 million trays. A year ago, the figure was about 73.5 million trays.
Fresh-market volume for the season is expected to reach about 218.5 million trays compared to about 202 million trays in 2019.
Well-Pict Inc. of Watsonville finished up its Santa Maria season in mid-June and is now shipping primarily out of the Watsonville-Salinas area.
Blueberries
Last year, U.S. blueberry growers shipped 1.2 billion pounds of wild and highbush blueberries.
Gourmet Trading Co. of Los Angeles report blueberries will be shipping out of several areas, including Georgia, North Carolina, California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Michigan and New Jersey, between now and fall.
Peruvian blueberry exports have started earlier than in other years, as the harvest got undereway in June with volume slowly increasing.
Larger volumes of blueberries from Peru should be available in the U.S. starting in late July and going into August and September.
Raspberries & Blackberries
The North American Raspberry and Blackberry Association of Pittsboro, N.C. reports most fresh-market summer raspberries are shipped from California.
Fresh-market blackberries are grown primarily in California and a few other states, including Georgia, North Carolina, Texas and Ohio.
Raspberries had a 15.4 percent compounded annual growth rate in U.S. per capita consumption from 2006-08 to 2016-18. Blackberries had a growth rate of 11.6 percent.
Demand for conventional raspberries rose from 216.5 million pounds in 2018 to about 236.4 million pounds in 2019.
Blackberry movement was down slightly, from 174.4 million pounds in 2018 to 168.3 million pounds in 2019.