7 minute read
Blueberries: Georgia's Top Fruit
Blueberries:
Georgia’s Top Fruit
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by LeeAnna Tatum
A powerful little fruit, blueberries are touted for their health benefits and pack a punch with flavor and nutrition. Blueberries are grown commercially on every continent except Antarctica, with the United States being the top global producer. Demand in the fresh blueberry market continues to grow and production more than doubled between 2010 - 2019 reaching nearly 1 million metric tons globally.
Here in Georgia, we are fortunate to be among the top producing States in the US. Southern highbush and rabbiteye are the two varieties grown here commercially. Most of Georgia’s blueberry growers are located here in South Georgia. We have large farms, small farms, conventional farms, organic farms, farms that are picked by migrant workers, farms that are picked with machinery (harvesters) and more.
Even though the US is the highest producer ofblueberries, we still import berries from othercountries as well.
There are ways to help our local organic blueberry growers. As always, buying directly from a farmer you know is best! But if shopping for berries in the grocery store, make sure they were grown in the US. And buy in season. Blueberry season generally starts in late April and goes through July.
2022, has been a hard year for our local growers as two late freezes hit as the early varieties were
flowering and then as the fruit was setting. Too warm temperatures in January combined with the freezing temperatures a couple of months later, made for a disastrous season. In many cases, farmers lost approximately 90% of their crop.
Be sure to give them extra support this year to help them recoup some of their losses. Late berries will fare a little better and will start ripening from now through early July. Get out there and buy some!
You Pick!
Located just outside of St Marys, is Morning Belle Farms. This family owned and operated you-pick blueberry farm is certified organic. John and Jennifer Parham had their first season with the farm in 2021, but the farm has been operating for about 12 years.
The farm was originally established by Dr. Gerard Krewer who is considered one of UGA’s blueberry pioneers (he even has a blueberry variety named in his honor). The farm changed hands prior to the Parham’s purchase and both previous owners have been instrumental in helping this new farming family learn the ropes.
“Our backgrounds don’t have a lot to do with farming. John is a pilot and I am a nurse. We had been looking for property for our four boys
to get out a little bit and be outside,” Jennifer explained. “And we wanted our boys to have an understanding of where their food comes from other than the grocery store.”
During its peak last season, there were often close to 100 cars along the road to the farm and many of the customers have been visiting for years.
“We stay busy…, “ Jennifer said of their 2021 season, “we have people who come from all over the place, they plan their vacations to get here for the season and they’ve been doing it longer than we have - coming through to visit this farm. I feel likeyou-pick is one of those things that can become atradition that you do with your family.”
Commercial Grower
McCranie Farm located outside of Metter grows organic blueberries for the commercial market. You won’t find their name on an end product, Jay McCranie prefers to do the growing and harvesting and leaves the marketing to others. He sells his entire crop to Byne Blueberry Farm* located outside of Waynesboro.
Jay grew up on the land he now farms. Before it grew blueberries, it was used for conventional row crops. McCranie Farm has 12 acres of certified organic blueberry farm. Jay chose to go the organic route for the better market and because the idea of sustainability appealed to him.
But it’s been a tough few years in that market as weather patterns in Georgia have made crops not produce at their peak and with Mexico flooding the market with cheaper and more readily available product early in the season, those premium prices have come down.
Jay likes to think outside the box and has become known for his slightly unconventional methods around the farm like raising cattle alongside goats to help with parasite control (the two species have a symbiotic relationship that helps keep both healthier than they would be on their own).
“Fertilizing plants organically is a challenge but I bought a feed mixer wagon to feed my cows, I take bark and mix it with chicken litter and put it down the rows - we do that every year to add organic matter, for weed suppression and fertilize them all at the same time…. We can put it right down the row exactly where it needs to be,” Jay explained.
He’s learned a lot about successfully growing blueberries over the years, but there a few things that there's simply no accounting for.
“We can control most anything but springtime inGeorgia,” Jay conceded.
Mother Nature is indeed a force to be reckoned with. Along with the increasing unpredictability of springtime temperature fluctuations here in Georgia, the wildlife also brings its own set of challenges.
“We have substantial deer problems. Everything likes a blueberry - coons, squirrels, deer, you name it - and we do the best we can. We’re not hard core, we don’t get crop permits and shoot them, we realize that’s part of giving back. We hope they don’t eat it all! We’ll come out here and try to run them out of the field, but we just run them from one end to the other, they’re almost laughing at us.”
*You can read about Dick Byne and his organic blueberry farm in the third issue ever published of Southern Soil, “Byne Blue Farm: leading the way in organic farming”. Dick has been an organic grower for decades and has come up with dozens of ingenious uses for every berry harvested on his farm.
Despite the challenges, Georgia’s blueberry growers like Jay keep at it year after year and do their part to help ensure that the rest of us can continue to enjoy Georgia’s top fruit, the blueberry!
Berries are graded for the fresh market (the ones you see in the clam-shell packages at the grocery store). These are the berries that receive the No. 1 rating and are free from blemishes, meet color and ripeness standards, have no broken skins or leaks.
As you can imagine, there are many berries harvested on a commercial farm that do not meet those standards. But those berries do not need to go to waste - that’s where value-added products come into play. These less-than-perfect berries go on to become an ingredient item instead of a whole fruit.
