FEATURE | e d i t i o n
Blueberry Rebound
2021 Harvest Up 4.9 Million Pounds From Last Year
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by PAUL CATALA
BLUEBERRY GROWER KYLE HILL credits man and machine for helping to overcome the blueberry blues. In 2020, the Florida Blueberry Growers Association reported a season yield of only 17 million pounds of blueberries on about 5,500 acres, harvested statewide from mid-April through May. But through technological innovations and upgrades in mechanized harvesters, the waning of the coronavirus pandemic and freezes that hit blueberry competitors such as Texas, Florida blueberry growers took in 21.89 million pounds for 2021, close to the 22.7 million pounds harvested in 2019 and before the pandemic. Hill — who works for Southern Hill Farm in Clermont – owns a mechanical harvesting company, H&C Harvesting, based in Mount Dora. He says 2021 was better not only because of the loosening of coronavirus restrictions, but also better labor-saving equipment such as back loaders and top loaders. “As your prices go down with the market dropping, the hand labor stays the same, never goes down. With machines, you’re increasing your market, sometimes by 100 percent – it makes a big difference,” he adds. Although exact harvest numbers don’t come
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out until about a year and a half after a season, the economic impact of the Florida blueberry harvest for 2021 is predicted to be up to $200 million, says Brittany Lee, executive director of the Florida Blueberry Growers Association. Lee says in 2020 and the beginning of the pandemic there was a 70 percent sales loss compared to that same week in the first week of April 2019. She says consumers weren’t shopping in stores and that made
a significant impact. But she says 2021 sales have been strong. Lee – FBGA executive director since 2019 and vice president and manager of the 112-acre Florida Blue Farms in Waldo – says she also sees more use of machine harvesting as one of the best ways to continue building successful farming operations and increasing harvest numbers. She says in the wake of the pandemic, relying less on manual labor has helped blueberry farmers be more productive. “Five years ago, machine harvesting for Flor-
Five years ago, machine harvesting for Florida blueberries was still in a trial phase for most growers. But now, it is a significant part for medium to large growers. Machine harvesting helps harvest costs, which allows us to remain competitive as production pressures from Mexico have been increasing. — BRITTANY LEE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE FLORIDA BLUEBERRY GROWERS ASSOCIATION
FloridaAgNews.com
