Super berry shows no signs of slowing down.

The blueberry has taken the UK market by storm and is now the buzzword of healthy & sophisticated eating. As ever more becomes known about the berries amazing health benefits as British growers come to understand the agronomy issues surrounding blueberries, we can expect an ever larger domestic crop to satisfy the ever increasing British demand.

The impressive sales track record of Blueberries has been fuelled by consumers desire to consume healthy fruits rich in antioxidants. The blueberry is nowe classed as a 'super food' as it possesses the highest levels of anti-oxidants of any fruit. The extraordinry health and anti-aging benefits of blueberries include their role in lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease, and most likely cancer. The anti-aging properties extend beyond the obvious of maintaining a young looking skin. There are even claims that a cup of blueberries a day will significantly reduce the effect of Alzheimers disease and dementia.

Blueberries already account for 18% of total soft fruit sales, which makes them the 3rd most important soft fruit from a sales point of view. Market research shows that the main supporteres of blueberries are still the older market (people over 45), however the gorwing popularity among the young can not be disputed. Young people (under 28) indentify with the sexiness of soft fruit as well as the health giving attributes of blueberries. The PR campaigns of the last few years are really paying off and in the next few years we can expect to see the Market Penetration of blueberries to grow substantially. Currently only 1 in every 10 people in the Uk has ever sampled a blueberry.So clearly there is a lt of room for expansion.

Blueberry demans shows no signs of a slowdown and currently they have a market balue in the UK of £40 million. The 100-150% year on yea rgrowth of blueberries is a high motivator to British producers to find a way of growing them under typical British growing conditions. With increased sales and demand have come the first significant UK plantings.

Well Pict Europeans volumes of imported blueberries have doubled every year since 2002. This year WPE started using sea freight to import blueberries direct from an extended grower base. By importing larger volumes directly from the grower, many costs can be reduced and the saving passed on to the consumer. Fruit stored in a CA environment last well and makes the transatlantic trips viable.

The UK has been developing some interesting new cultivars, which are better suited to our climate than the existing varieties. There are over 100 varieties available worldwide although to most people a blueberry is still a blueberry. Although the berry come from the same genus as Britain's native Bilberries & whortleberries, most cultivated berries originate from the USA.

Blueberries are relatively easy to grow and are not prone to pests or disease. Thus they require very little impout while delivering a rather high output. Once planted a blueberry orchard has a long cropping life, going on for half a century or more.

Currently there are an estimated 100 hectares planted in the UK, most of which are only 5 years old. Plantings are expected to continue as growers become more knowledgeable about he market and confident in its cultivation. One drawback is the high initial cost of establishing an orchard.

Blueberries grown on bushes using canes that grow directly from the soil. The three essentials for production are:

• An acid soil with a pH of 4.5 – 5.5 is essential. They lend themselves to being  grown in a substrate mix, using on ground production methods.

• Soil must be free draining and the best crops come from the plants irrigated with a   watering tape.

• A temperature below 10c for 800-1000 hours per year

Fruit destined for the fresh markets are picked by hand as this allows fruit to be picked ripe and aboids damagins the delicate berries. Crops for industrial processing however are generally harvested mechanically. Berries are usually then graded mechanically to ensure they have an evenly graded product. Blueberries have a typical yield of 8 tonnes per hectare.

Althouguh the current price per tonne is very high at around £8 - 10,000 is is expected that as volumes increase so the prices is likely to fall by about 50% over the next ten years.

When large volumes of UK grown blueberries do become available they are expected to have large appeal due to their freshness from field to fork. It is expected that improved fruit flavours and larger fruit sizes will enjoy a genuine national following.

It's important to ensure that growing & marketing efforts are co-ordinated to take into account overseas competition. Much of Europe, including Germany, Holland, France and Poland are all embarking on large plantings and the production in the Americas show no evidence of slowing down either.

April 2006