On July 13th, at the invitation of the Gartenbauverband Berlin-Brandenburg e.V., agriculture minister, Jörg Vogelsänger will kick-off this year's blueberry season together with county commissioner Wolfgang Blasig (Potsdam-Mittelmarkt), mayor of Beelitz Bernhard Knuth and Klaus Henschel, president of the Gartenbauverband. Host of the season opening is, like in previous years, the Spargelhof Klaistow, owned by the families Buschmann and Winkelmann. With the end of the asparagus harvest, many domestic producers change colors - from white via strawberry red and now on to blue. Thanks to their knowhow, the businesses are prepared and will extend their harvest and sales-season for as long as possible with further horticultural crops.
After the rough weather conditions some early horticultures in Brandenburg had to report immense losses, so now all eyes are on the blueberries. Hopes will be fulfilled if many people from Brandenburg or Berlin lend a hand (by picking the berries themselves) or support direct sales of businesses in their stores or at street stands.
Blueberries (Vaccinium myrtillus Ericaceae) became popular in Brandenburg and all over the world in the last ten years. Demand rose mostly in Europe and the U.S. In Europe the cultivation area increased by two and a half times its size, from 4,000 hectares in 2005, to 10,000 hectares in 2012. This is mostly due to expansion in Spain, Portugal, England, the Netherlands, Poland (3,000 hectares) and Germany. In 2016, 2,710 hectares of blueberries were cultivated in Germany.
The asparagus farm Buschmann&Winkelmann in Klaistow was founded on January 1st in 1990. Starting from 2004, they transformed their asparagus business into an adventure farm. It cultivates over 1,000 hectares, 800 of which are asparagus, 25 strawberries, 150 hectares of blueberries, 35 for pumpkins and has 75 permanent employees (among which are bakers, butchers, cooks, carpenters and foresters) as well as 250 to 300 seasonal German workers as drivers, sellers and service personnel. Furthermore, they employ 900 harvest workers and seasonal helpers for sorting and packaging processes, from Poland and Romania.
Source: mlul brandenburg