Oregon Public Broadcasting

In the last seven years, the amount of blueberries grown in Oregon has just about doubled.  And that growth comes as a result of growing blueberry consumption worldwide.  

Last year, Oregon blueberry growers produced about 45 million pounds of berries.  This year, the harvest is expected to be around 48 million pounds.  Pete Springer paid a visit to a local farm to find out what growers are doing to strike blueberry gold.

On a farm outside Canby, a huge machine straddles a row of blueberry bushes and shakes the berries off the branches.

Verne Gingerich: “So the fruit's falling down under those catcher plates there that you see kind of flipping around the machine, it goes off to the side and then it goes up on those conveyors.”

Verne Gingerich grows more than 100 acres of blueberries.  He also uses human crews to handpick his berries.  It costs more, but people don’t drop as many berries as the machines.

This late in the season, the machines are the fastest way to get berries to market.

And the market for blueberries is booming.

Verne Gingerich: “Course with all the health attributes of the fruit, why, you know it just has increased our markets share both in the produce side as well as the baking side.”

Blueberries contain very high levels of antioxidants, a natural substance that prevents or repairs cell damage.

Blueberries are even used in some beauty products to treat wrinkles and restore skin tone.

This has driven up demand for blueberries, especially in Asia and Europe. 

And since it takes two to three years for a blueberry bush to start producing, Oregon growers are still trying to meet that demand.  

Verne Gingerich: “There’s always limits to everything.  And if our production growth outpaces our demand growth, why then it can become a negative, obviously.  You know, it’s all based on supply and demand, just like any commodity.”

Bryan Ostlund is the administrator of the Oregon Blueberry Commission.  He says the market for processed blueberries is so hot right now, there’s almost a goldrush mentality. 

Bryan Ostlund: “I think the savvy growers, there’s more consistently over time.  It’s kind of like chasing the stock market rates.  You know when it seems like things are good and I want to get some of the stock that’s returning really well, that’s probably not the time to buy it.  And the same is true in agriculture.”

Blueberry grower Verne Gingerich agrees.  He says there’s a perception that blueberries are easy to grow, but they’re not.

He started growing blueberries in the eighties before the market exploded.  Now he’s getting into organic berries, with 40 acres expected to start producing next year.

Gingerich says a key aspect of  blueberry farming is water supply.

He uses computer controlled sprinklers on his farm.

This can add to the cost of putting in an acre of blueberries – which is around $10,000.

Verne Gingerich: “Well you don’t want to go out and put ten acres in – hundred-grand or more, just to realize you don’t have the water supply that you need to keep it going obviously.  It’s a long term crop.  It’s not like grass or something where it’s an annual crop.”  

Gingerich also has a state-of-the-art processing facility on his farm.

Verne Gingerich: “So these boxes right here are all being exported to Japan.”

The facility allows Gingerich to not only process his own berries – but also to process blueberries from other farms.

Verne Gingerich: “We don’t own the fruit that came in to go in this box, and we don’t own the fruit once it’s packed.  We just provide a service for packing.”

All this innovation in the booming Oregon blueberry market is no guarantee of success though.  The berries still have to taste good or consumers won’t want them.

And that’s where Oregon has an edge over a place like Michigan, says Gingerich.  Michigan is the biggest blueberry producer in North America, producing more than double the amount of berries grown in Oregon.

But Gingerich says Oregon’s weather, which generally cools down at night, helps Oregon berries taste better than berries from other places.

Verne Gingerich: “What that allows is it allows the fruit to stop maturing and it only matures during the heat of the day when the sun’s out.  In Michigan, if they have a 100-degree day, it may drop down to 90 (at night) but it’s still hot and humid and I believe that the fruit still matures but it has a watery texture compared to ours.”

If you want to check out the taste for yourself, you’re in luck this summer.

Due to a cool spring, Oregon’s blueberry season started later than usual and is expected to extend into early September.