This year's North Carolina blueberry harvest began early. Other than some moisture spread out through the state, growers have not encountered major weather setbacks. Volume looks good, and demand has been healthy.“It's been a good season with really good volume,” said Joseph Teachey, a blueberry grower in Wallace, North Carolina. “We had a lot of rain, but we still managed to pick when it wasn't raining, and we've had good quality berries.” He added that the season, which got off to an early start this year, will probably continue through June.
“We started harvesting about a week early, about mid-May, and we'll finish up about mid-June,” he said.
Julie Woodcock, executive coordinator for the North Carolina Blueberry Council, also noted that this year's harvest was early, mostly due to weather factors.
“The season usually starts around May 25th, but it got started about 10 days early,” she said. Despite this early start, North Carolina's season did not overlap with Florida's, which is sometimes a possibility when Florida has a late season or when North Carolina gets an early start.
“Florida's volumes were down because they had a freeze, but it also meant that their season didn't overlap with North Carolina's,” she said. That reduced production has also meant that consumer demand has remained strong, though Woodcock believes that would be the case even if Florida's production were higher this year.
“Demand is strong this year,” she said. “But demand is enough for everybody – we don't feel like we're competing with each other.”