marketing Blueberry boom taking its toll


Industry adviser stresses need for growers to be very attuned to shifting market demands. By Judie Steeves


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orth America’s blueberry industry is about to have a shake-up. According to John Shelford, an industry consultant and strategic adviser for the farmer-owned Naturipe Farms, production has quadrupled in the last few years, and prices are not increasing, leaving some growers behind.


Although he lives in Florida, Shelford represents grower families and co-ops across the U.S. and in Chile. He believes the result will be a reduction in the number of growers, as those who are not doing everything right fall by the way, and the good managers survive, he predicts. After 41 years in the industry, Shelford is still passionate about it, and watched as it grew exponentially, helped along by such profound events as the health message of the past couple of decades.


Antioxidant benefits have turned a whole new generation of North American consumers on to purchasing blueberries as part of their regular trip to the grocery store.


And, the message is spreading to other parts of the world. Consumers are very health- conscious, notes Shelford, so that health message is very important. In fact, he believes using that health message to promote berries is more important to growers than most seem to realize.


Marketing is even more important. Shelford is adamant that growers should not be growing product without first having a market for what they produce. That means speaking to a marketing company about what they want — and about what consumers are demanding—before growing the fruit to go to that market. Growers must have a marketing plan.


“Don’t grow them if you don’t have a market for them,” he advises. “There have been lots of new entries


6 British Columbia Berry Grower • Spring 2017


pint of blueberries at the supermarket, sourced from the southern hemisphere, and the price was equal to or less than summer berries from local growers. “There’s not much profit in that.” With margins as low as they currently are, he says growers must be low-cost producers to make a go of it. That means farmers must be good business people and think strategically, as well as growing high-quality fruit. Although most North American berries are currently sold into domestic markets, he feels with more product available on global markets, it’s time for North American growers to sell more berries overseas, and he notes there has been some growth in the markets of the European Union.


Asia is another market ripe for expansion, particularly with the opening of China to B.C. blueberries, and he feels dried fruit would also do well. Shelford also believes the next step will be more consumer interest in particular varieties of blueberries, similar to the current marketing of apples by variety.


John Shelford


to the industry and existing growers have expanded, as a result of the popularity of that health message to consumers,” he explains. As a result, in 2016, prices and supply were unsustainable.


With increasing product volume, it’s come to another cataclysm in the industry: there’s just not enough profit to be made the way things are balanced at the moment.


Shelford notes he recently priced a


There are several private breeding programs currently researching new varieties, but marketing must go along with such breeding programs to ensure new varieties are desired by consumers. Ultimately, once some of the less- efficient growers drop out of the market, he envisions an increase in prices so the industry is more sustainable in the long term.


“There’s still money to be made in the blueberry industry. I believe export demand will continue to grow,” he says reassuringly.


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