Florida blueberry volume set for late March start

Central Florida blueberry fields for Dundee-based Florida Classic Growers Inc. should start harvesting in the last week of March, said President Al Finch. 

“We are looking at having a good crop this year,” he said. Florida Classic Growers expects to have blueberries through the month of April and into the first week of May. “We seem to have weathered the storm.” 

Finch said freezing temperatures in January may have delayed the start of the harvest about a week later than normal, but the outlook for the crop remains good.

With berries from Mexico and Chile expected to fade at the end of March, Finch said that Florida blueberries will be in prime position for big demand during April.

The Florida blueberry crop is doing well, Jeffrey Williamson, Gainesville, Fla.-based University of Florida extension fruit specialist, said in mid-February.

“We had a pretty hard freeze a couple of weeks back, but I think most people were able to get through it and everything looks okay,” Williamson said.

In general, he said blueberry acreage in the state is increasing, but not as rapidly as a decade ago. “I think the number of growers may be declining as smaller growers get out of it, but I think acreage is probably holding steady or increasing a little.” 

The USDA reported that Florida’s blueberry acreage in 2020 was 4,400 acres, up from 3,500 acres in 2010 but down from 5,100 acres in 2019.