State's growers benefit from Georgia & South Carolina's misfortune
New Jersey blueberry grower expects best season since 2011
Anthony DiMeo III of DiMeo Farms in Hammonton, a fourth-generation blueberry farmer, predicts this year to be the best one locally since 2011. New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas Fisher also loves what he has seen and heard about the blueberry crop this year.
“Growers are all reporting a great crop so far, and for New Jersey to be ready with an amazing supply and one of high quality, we’ll surely sell them all,” Fisher predicted.
A hard freeze in late March in the deep South decimated southern blueberry crops, and DiMeo said when other states get hurt, New Jersey benefits. Southern losses kept the supply short all spring, and with increasingly high demand this summer, that means a big year for South Jersey blueberry farmers.
“Georgia and South Carolina lost 80 percent of their blueberries, and that caused an air bubble in the supply pipeline,” DiMeo said.
“Typical market price this time of year is about 15 dollars for a 12-pint crate of blueberries, but this year it’s anywhere from 21 to 27 dollars a crate,” DiMeo said.
source: pressofatlanticcity.com
