Oregon blueberry acreage rises with demand
Sunday, August 3, 2008 12:11 AM PDT
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Increased worldwide demand for blueberries has led Oregon farmers to increase their acreage planted with the popular fruit believed to have some health benefits for its antioxidant properties.
‘‘The demand for blueberries is unprecedented, and the response to that is to put more acres in,’’ Oregon Blueberry Commission administrator Brian Ostlund said.
Despite a cool spring and poor pollination, Oregon’s blueberry producers remain on target to harvest somewhere between 46 million and 47 million pounds of fruit this year, breaking the 2007 record of 44.7 million pounds.
The projected harvest will make Oregon the second- or third-highest producing blueberry state, behind Michigan with 65 million pounds, and in a dead heat with New Jersey.
Worldwide blueberry acreage has more than doubled in the past decade, from 62,800 acres in 1997 to 144,800 acres last year, according to the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council.
Most of that growth was in the Western Hemisphere, with 50,200 additional acres in South America and 32,000 more acres in North America.
In 2007, Oregon farmers harvested 5,600 acres of blueberries — more than double the state’s acreage just seven years earlier. Last year’s crop was valued at $65 million, making it the state’s 12th most valuable agricultural commodity.
Ostlund said this year’s market for fresh blueberries is strong, and prices have held up well.
The market for this summer’s processed berries has not yet developed because frozen berries tend not to begin selling until after the fresh berry season is over — but demand is expected to remain high.
Ostlund said a mid-1990s study by researchers at Tufts University showing blueberries have higher antioxidant activity than all other fruits or vegetables helped boost the market, especially among health-conscious baby boomers.
‘‘Those are all issues that kind of brought us into this market, and they’re not over yet,’’ Ostlund said.
In addition, blueberries are just beginning to find their way into secondary markets as major manufacturers have waited until production reached sustainable levels before adding them to everything from breakfast cereal to face creams.
Ten years ago, Jim Lott had never even tasted a blueberry, let alone thought about planting the fruit at his southeast Washington farm.
Today, Lott has 125 acres of juicy blueberries to harvest. And now with more growth on the horizon, Lott and others worry about a market crash.
‘‘The whole industry has been doing really quite well, but it has grown so fast over the last couple of years that returns are starting to drop pretty sharply,’’ Lott said.
Steve Erickson, president of Pan American Berry Growers in Salem, said he’s witnessed several ups and downs in the blueberry market.
‘‘This industry was due for a tremendous growing pain, and I think this year is the first year of the effects of that,’’ Erickson said. ‘‘How long it will last will depend on whether the average consumer can continue to afford our crop.’’
