The UK blueberry harvest got underway around six weeks ago and was a little late getting started, but this was mostly confined to the east coast of England where a cold spell delayed the fruit.
“On the whole the crop is looking good,” said Chris Rose from Asplins Producer Organisation. “The quality and sizing is good, yields are normal but there will be more production due to younger plantations coming on line. Demand is good but comes at a price, we have seen retailers increase prices but have not really seen this in returns, but it does depend on who the customer is.”
The blueberry industry in the UK is very different from the strawberry or raspberry industry. Strawberries and raspberries have a very ‘British’ feel in the eyes of the consumer, which is not the case for blueberries. There is a lot more competition with imports on the blueberry market.”
The labour situation in the UK has been very tough for quite a few years now, there is labour but it comes at a cost.
“With blueberries there is the potential to machine harvest, in fact we have just helped one of our producers to buy a harvester. It gives the growers options, if there is demand early in the season they can hand pick, but if the prices are lower then machine harvesting may be the best option. The machines pick all of the berries, so there is an additional requirement for a grader and obviously a pay back time, but I see this as the way forward due to the cost of labour and we are looking at helping more of our growers invest in the machinery.
For more information:
Chris Rose
Asplins Producer Organisation
Tel.: +44 1795 594811
Email: [email protected]
