The Business of Blueberries

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Amanda Griffin, vice president of engagement and education at USHBC and NABC. Cronquist and Griffin reflect on The Blueberry Convention, share the feedback they received from participants and make a big announcement about future blueberry events. “The change is we are going to smush over the convention to the fall and essentially take away the summit, and have one large event in the fall called The Blueberry Convention. …It's an opportunity to celebrate the end of the season, gather everybody together, and that is where we will grow the trade show floor to have more expansive education offerings and more opportunities for folks to gather and to meet.” – Amanda Griffin Topics covered include: Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. Today you’ll hear from Brittany Lee in Florida, Jody McPherson in North Carolina, TJ Hafner in Oregon and Luis Vegas in Peru. This was recorded on April 25, 2024.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Bruce Popko, chief executive officer of Major League Pickleball. Popko discusses the growth of pickleball, the professional league that he leads, and why blueberries and pickleball belong on the same court together. The USHBC is thrilled to be one of the first sponsors of Major League Pickleball, joining some of the world’s largest and most recognizable brands in leveraging pickleball’s unique consumer reach. “The cool part is that inherently you've got a fun fruit and we've got a fun experience. So smashing those together in meaningful ways… I think there's just a lot of fun to be had in the relationship.” - Bruce Popko Topics covered include: Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. You’ll hear from Brittany Lee in Florida, Jody McPherson in North Carolina, Elise Oliver in California, TJ Hafner in Oregon and Luis Vegas in Peru. This was recorded on April 11, 2024.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Steve Magami, co-founder and executive chair of AgroVision, a vertically integrated grower, packer, shipper and marketer of blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and table grapes. Recently having celebrated its 10-year anniversary, Agrovision is one of the world’s fastest growing producers and year-round supplier of superfruits, with nearly $300 million in sales. Magami first appeared on “The Business of Blueberries” in episode 115. “We've been on a mission to transform lives while we evolve in our journey to inspire consumers to live a more nutritious and healthy lifestyle. As I look back, I’m proud of our commitment to sustainability and the impact we've made, proud of our commitment to quality and the impact we've made on consumers, and I think we've just scratched the surface. It's already showing me the impact we can make together as an industry if we put the right quality on the shelf consistently through the year.” – Steve Magami Topics covered include: Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. Today, you’ll hear from Brittany Lee in Florida, Jody McPherson in North Carolina, Brody Schropp in Michigan, Derrin Wheeler in Georgia, Luis Vegas in Peru and Mario Ramirez in Mexico. This was recorded on April 4, 2024.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by David Jackson, founder of Family Tree Farms, alongside his sons and son-in-law. Today, they’re a family-owned fruit grower, packer and shipper based in Reedley, California, with additional locations in Peru, Mexico, and Africa. Jackson serves on the NABC Board of Directors and the United Blueberry Advisory Committee, and joins us to share his perspectives on quality, flavor, genetics, marketing and the future of our industry. “Our mission statement is to consistently produce, package and market the most flavorful fruit in the world. We say that because we know who we sell to, but we always keep in mind that our end customer is that consumer, that person, who puts that fruit in their mouth and says, ‘Wow, that's the most flavorful thing. That's the best thing I've ever eaten.’ We have chosen to differentiate ourselves with flavor, and that comes down to just genetics.” – David Jackson Topics covered include: Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. You’ll hear from Brittany Lee in Florida, Mario Ramirez in Mexico and Daniel Bustamante in Peru. This was recorded on March 14, 2024.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Jorge Andres Varela, president of Agroberries. Agroberries is a vertically integrated berry producer and marketer with a large worldwide presence and a portfolio of exclusive proprietary genetic varieties. Varela discusses their expansion with Berry Fresh, a marketing arm in the Americas, as well as their recent investment in BerryWorld. “We have to be united. There's sometimes a little bit of tension between different growing regions, but finally, we're all looking for the same thing. We're looking to increase consumption, to offer a better product to consumers, and I think we have to work together. … An industry that works together is going to be much more successful than everyone doing their own thing on their own.” – Jorge Andres Varela Topics covered include: Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. You’ll hear from Derrin Wheeler in Georgia, Brittany Lee in Florida and Daniel Bustamante in Peru. This was recorded on March 7, 2024.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Ryan Ellison, produce category manager at Food City, and Joshua Essenburg, category manager at SpartanNash. Both of these retailers participated in a panel at the Blueberry Summit in Savannah last fall where they discussed “Insights and Opportunities for Selling Fresh Blueberries in Retail.” Together, they discuss the opportunity and potential they see in the blueberry market from the perspective of a retailer. “Our cross-merchandising on blueberries has really evolved a lot and, as that's evolved, so has the way we advertise them and promote them.” - Joshua Essenburg Topics covered include: Visit blueberryevents.org to learn more and register for the Blueberry Convention, Feb. 28- March 1 in Tucson, Arizona. Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. You’ll hear from Daniel Bustamante in Peru and Mario Ramirez in Mexico. This was recorded on February 15, 2024.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by USHBC Chair Shelly Hartmann. As lifelong residents of Southwest Michigan, Shelly and Dennis Hartmann are the owners of True Blue Farms in Grand Junction. Established in 1988, True Blue Farms has grown substantially to 10 subsidiaries, including hundreds of acres of production and the popular Blueberry Store in downtown South Haven. In addition to being the USHBC chair, Hartmann is the past president of the Michigan Frozen Food Packers Association. She penned an inspiring story of her rise to success in the book Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneurial Soul. “I think what I'm most proud of in 2023 is I saw a lot of people that you may not see work together roll up their sleeves and start working together for the betterment of the industry, and not for the betterment of them or their organization. They put that stuff aside and they really looked at our blueberry industry and they made the best decisions … for our industry, and that made me feel really proud because it's like one big happy blueberry family. ” - Shelly Hartmann Topics covered include: Visit blueberryevents.org to learn more and register for The Blueberry Convention Feb. 28-March 1 in Tucson, Arizona.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Rachel Petraglia, culinary specialist for the fifth largest school nutrition program in the nation at the Georgia Department of Education. Petraglia spent almost 14 years working for the Gwinnett School Nutrition Program, developing recipes and menus for the district’s 182,000 students. While working for Gwinnett, she facilitated a blueberry partnership through the Culinary Institute of America’s Healthy Kids Collaborative program, and helped develop several new menu items featuring frozen blueberries. “I think that when you use fruit like blueberries and incorporate them into breakfast staples, you end up with a product that is really delicious. That's where I want to see school nutrition and school breakfast get to. That's the direction I believe it's going to start moving in. ” - Rachel Petraglia Topics covered include: Visit blueberryevents.org to learn more and register for the Blueberry Convention, Feb. 28-March 1 in Tucson, Arizona. Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. You’ll hear from Daniel Bustamante in Peru, Andres Armstrong in Chile and Mario Ramirez in Mexico. This was recorded on January 18, 2024.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by David Krause, CEO of Frutura. Recently, this California-based fruit sales and marketing company announced it was acquiring two berry businesses: Sun Belle and Giddings Fruits. Before joining Frutura, Krause served as president of Wonderful Citrus, the largest integrated grower, packer and shipper of fresh citrus in the world, with 58,000+ acres of company-owned-and-operated farmland in California, Texas and Mexico. “You just have to have a pulse to understand what the potential consumption and how much the growth in this particular area has been. When you're in fresh produce and you think about, you know, the growing categories, you have to be in blueberries, right? It's just so much runway, and at the same time, it's such an interesting space.” – David Krause Topics covered include: Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. You’ll hear from Daniel Bustamante in Peru and Mario Ramirez in Mexico. This was recorded on January 4, 2024.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Chelsea Consalo, vice president of operations for Consalo Family Farms in New Jersey, and Ellie Norris, owner/manager of Norris Blueberry Farms in Oregon. Consalo is a fourth-generation producer and serves on the New Jersey Blueberry Industry Advisory Council. Norris is a second-generation blueberry grower and packer who leads a fresh pack operation. They join us to talk about the future of the blueberry industry from the perspective of the next generation of blueberry leaders. “I think people don't realize how much of a full-time job produce is, don't really realize what it takes to get crops from the farm to the table and don't realize what's involved. Because we're vertically integrated, we have a hand in all parts of it.” - Chelsea Consalo “If we continue to open up markets around the world, we're going to open up demand for blueberries, and specifically U.S. blueberries. … There is a great demand for the quality fruit that the U.S. produces into a lot of countries out there.” -Ellie Norris Topics covered include: Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. You’ll hear from Daniel Bustamante in Peru, Andres Armstrong in Chile and Mario Ramirez in Mexico. This was recorded on December 21, 2023.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Chef Nate Weir, vice president of culinary at Modern Market Eatery and a champion of including blueberries on menus. After culinary school Weir worked in full-service, ingredient-driven restaurants in Boulder, and was the sous chef at Salt Bistro, 5280 Magazine’s “Best New Restaurant” in 2009. He joined the Modern Market team in 2011 as its first chef and “corporate” employee. In 12 years growing the Modern Market brand, he has worn many hats – from purchasing and food cost to developing systems for training and operations. He has also led culinary efforts at Lemonade, a trend-setting California fast-casual restaurant, where he completed a full reboot of the colorful, unique menu and hand-crafted beverage program. “We like to take a good fresh ingredient like blueberries and try not to overthink it. It provides a ton of versatility on the menu. It's extremely flexible in the ways that we can use it. Guests love it and best of all, it's extremely good for you too. So it really checks all the boxes.” - Nate Weir Topics covered include: Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. You’ll hear from Daniel Bustamante in Peru and Mario Ramirez in Mexico. This was recorded on December 14, 2023.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by NABC Director of Government Affairs Alyssa Houtby. Houtby leads the NABC’s advocacy efforts and works closely with Monument Advocacy, the council’s Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm. She shares the current state of the Farm Bill and discusses what specialty producers have to look forward to. “We're well positioned with members of Congress and the administration to deliver for specialty crop producers. I think there's more interest than there ever has been in the past. We've got members on the House and Senate Ag Committee that represent states that are heavy into specialty crops. In the past, you may have seen more representation from your middle-America, row-crop producing states.” - Alyssa Houtby Topics covered include: Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. Today you’ll hear from Mario Ramirez in Mexico and Daniel Bustamante in Peru. This was recorded on November 23, 2023.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by David Magaña of Rabobank, who is responsible for covering and analyzing the U.S. and North American fresh fruit and vegetable industries. Tune in to learn about what’s happening with blueberry supply and demand globally, trends in the fresh and frozen markets, and what Magaña sees as the drivers that will impact blueberry economics in the future. “Over the past decade, global fresh blueberry exports expanded steadily, driven by (a) diversifying base of growing regions … countries with the highest growth rates in recent years include Peru, South Africa, Morocco, Mexico, Poland and Spain. (The) 2023-24 marketing season will be the first marketing year in recent history to see a negative year-on-year variation in global exports.” - David Magaña Topics covered include: Blueberry Update 2023: Operational efficiency and premiumization will transform the blueberry industry).Magaña Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. Today you’ll hear from Mario Ramirez in Mexico and Daniel Bustamante in Peru. This was recorded on November 9, 2023.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Andres Armstrong, executive director of the Chilean Blueberry Committee, to discuss the current season in Chile, the impact of the drop in Peruvian production and the future of blueberries in the region. Armstrong was also featured in episode 22, episode 75 and episode 134, as well as in several crop reports. “We are trying to work with our members, with the Chilean Blueberry Committee members, taking this opportunity to really prove to the market that Chile is a consistent, reliable supplier. Looking into the future, not specifically to this season, we want to be in the market in the coming years too.” - Andres Armstrong Topics covered include: Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. Today you’ll hear from Mario Ramirez in Mexico and Daniel Bustamante in Peru. This was recorded on November 4, 2023.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Lisa Wasko DeVetter, Ph.D., associate professor for small fruits at Washington State University’s (WSU) Mount Vernon Research Center. Since joining WSU in 2014, Devetter has developed a diverse research and extension program, with an emphasis on maximizing productivity, fruit quality and on-farm efficiencies. Her primary research areas include optimizing pollination services in small-fruit crops, improved end-of-life management of agricultural plastics used in small-fruit crop production, machine harvesting technologies and nutrient management. “Many growers have probably and unfortunately experienced episodes where they've had poor pollination and it means reduced fruit set, berry size and yields. So, taking a step back, what pollination is, is it's a precursor for fruit development in blueberries. We also see this relationship that the better pollination we receive the improvement in berry size as well, to a threshold, to a point. Larger berry size is really critical, not just for quality, but also for growers to try to meet their yield potential.” - Lisa Wasko DeVetter, Ph.D. You can also tune into DeVetter’s first appearance on “The Business of Blueberries” in episode 104, where she discusses the extreme weather events impacting blueberry crop in the Northwest. Topics covered include: Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. Today you’ll hear from Mario Ramirez in Mexico and Luis Vegas in Peru. This was recorded on October 26, 2023.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), recaps the recent Blueberry Summit held in Savannah, Georgia, and highlights a couple of award-winning industry leaders. In this episode, we share the acceptance speeches of Ridley Bell who received the Duke Galletta Award, and John Shelford who received the Alex Weatherbee Award, as well discussing the inaugural inductees into the NABC Hall of Fame. “It's just been a tremendous ride with tremendous friends and many of you here I've known for years. I've been privileged to be able to still hang around. … We've been blessed immensely and we've seen a lot of changes, and I hope we've led some of those changes.” - John Shelford Topics covered include: Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. Today you’ll hear from Luis Vegas in Peru and Mario Ramirez in Mexico. This was recorded on October 11, 2023.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Kevin Hamilton, vice president of global marketing for USHBC. Hamilton has over 20 years of marketing experience with a number of brands and commodities, and is bringing that expertise to the blueberry industry. In this episode, Hamilton and Cronquist discuss the current state of blueberry marketing promotion programs and the opportunities ahead to empower the industry to make blueberries the world’s favorite fruit. “ The notion of 'world's favorite fruit' … favorite is an adjective that is associated with a point of view; with an attitude inside a person's mind. We're not going to get there just trying to sell blueberries. We're not going to get to that notion of favorite fruit. We need to impact how people think about that fruit as they're buying it. Think about that fruit as they're consuming it, right? We need to merge that with the market side of things.” - Kevin Hamilton Topics covered include:

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Lisa Coleman, director of healthy living for Giant Food, which includes 166 supermarkets in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and Washington, D.C. As the leader of Giant's Healthy Living Team of credentialed nutrition professionals, Coleman helps guide an inclusive, all-foods-fit approach to educating and inspiring the community Giant serves through classes, store tours, workplace wellness programs, cook-alongs, social media engagement and a biweekly podcast, “Healthy Living by Giant.” “We have this kind of rallying cry that health is for everyone. It doesn't have to be exclusive or expensive. We really like to show people that there's healthy foods in every aisle of our stores and healthy living isn't perfect. It's not all or nothing. It's about the little things that you do everyday that support your health.” - Lisa Coleman Topics covered include:

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Ross Peterson, the newly appointed director of finance at USHBC. Peterson explains how the USHBC is funded, the assessment process and some changes that are underway. “I get to hear life experiences. I get to hear how businesses are being run. It gives me a great insight as to what's happening in the industry. … I get to hear a lot of really fun stories in the mix of answering questions on how to fill out a form. … We get to spend a lot of time talking about families and kids and what it's like to transition a farm from generation to generation to generation.” - Ross Peterson Topics covered include: Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. Today you’ll hear from Alan Schreiber in Washington and Luis Vegas in Peru. This was recorded on September 20, 2023.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Luis Vegas, general manager of Proarandanos, the Peruvian Blueberry Growers & Exporters Association. What started as a promising year for production in Peru has turned into an unpredictable reversal of forecasts. In this episode, we contextualize what’s happening there to better understand what this means for Peruvian blueberry stakeholders. “El Niño phenomenon sometimes can have a global impact, but also sometimes can have a more regional impact. And in this case, it's more of a regional impact of El Niño, which is causing us to have warmer temperatures in the ocean. It's causing us to have warmer temperatures in the atmosphere. … The variety that is being more affected by this warmer weather, it's a variety called Ventura. It's the variety that has the largest acreage here in Peru. So in Peru there's approximately 6,000 hectares of Ventura, the variety that is being more affected, and this affects directly Peru's volumes.” - Luis Vegas Topics covered include: Crop Report The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. Today you’ll hear from T.J. Hafner in Oregon, Jason Smith in British Columbia and Mario Ramirez in Mexico. This was recorded on September 13, 2023.