MBG Marketing, a Grand Junction, Mich.-based grower co-op, will have 5% to 7% more blueberry volume out of Michigan this season than last as a result of new membership, said CEO Larry Ensfield.
The co-op, which is one of three partners in Estero, Fla.-based Naturipe Farms LLC, started shipping out of Florida and will continue sourcing from Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Michigan, Indiana, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, Ensfield said.
“We will have good volume,” he said. “The crop looks really good.”
The company’s domestic program runs from March 1 into the first half of October.
Ensfield said there was a shortfall early in the season because of cold weather in the early spring, but plenty of blueberries should be available for the Fourth of July, when New Jersey will be at its peak.
