Healthy, local (and not local) berries enjoy great demand

A major factor in the popularity of berries — besides their easy-to-love taste — is their much-touted health benefits.

This is was true years before the COVID-19 pandemic made the “food as medicine” concept even more urgent.

“We know consumers are pushing for healthier eating options, which is a positive for the produce category,” said Jim Grabowski, director of marketing at Well-Pict, Watsonville, Calif., which handles strawberries and raspberries.

“We are expecting consumers to consume more produce this year and factor in fruits like strawberries and raspberries to incorporate a healthy eating option for them and their families.”

Grabowski has also noticed an uptick in the company’s organic strawberries, an ongoing trend that has held fast the past year and a half, he said.

Compared to the same time period last year, significant berry price increases included strawberries (organic 41%, conventional 17%), blackberries at 15% and raspberries at 14%, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Retail Report showing advertised prices at major retailers May 29-June 10.

Even before the 2020 boom of citrus and ginger, berries have long enjoyed their own immunity-boosting, cancer-preventing, age-defying, all-around-healthy reputation.

“Obviously, the volume is there, higher than it’s been the last two to three years, although not a ton, and the price is a little higher than normal, so that, to me, means the demand is there, and it’s pretty high,” said Kevin Schooley, executive director of the North American Strawberry Growers Association.

“They’re selling what they’re harvesting, so that’s good.”

Retail customers are especially interested in locally grown fruit, and the demand is high, said Chelsea Consalo, vice president of produce operations at Consalo Family Farms, Egg Harbor City, N.J.

“We are excited to see retailers requesting New Jersey blueberries,” she said.

Consalo Family Farms is also fielding requests for larger pack sizes.

“The bigger pack sizes allow families to grab-and-go to the beach, to the park or out for the day,” she said. “We currently offer a resealable pack that is extremely popular among families.”

Strawberries are a good indicator of what may happen with other berries, said Debby Wechsler, executive secretary of the North American Raspberry and Blackberry Association.

“Strawberries are the flagship of local and direct marketing. If you see strawberries having a really good year, it’s most likely, in consumer trends, you will see similar things happen to a lesser degree with the other berries.”

There is still work to do in shifting consumer perception of blackberries, she said.

“People still think of blackberries as something they pick in the wild, or what they picked with their grandmother when they were 10,” Wechsler said.

Modern breeding techniques have changed the flavor, so supermarket shoppers won’t find the sour blackberries of 20 years ago.

Besides Driscoll’s, Well-Pict and a couple of other large companies, raspberries and blackberries are a more direct-to-consumer, local product.

“2020 was a boom year for berries sold at farm stands,” Wechsler said. “People wanted to eat healthy to boost immunity and felt visiting a farm stand was safe and you-pick was a good family event. If consumers pick blackberries locally and they like them, convenience will convince them to buy them in the store. Everyone who buys locally is more likely to buy them in the stores.”

And those store shoppers are looking for environmentally friendly packaging.

Well-Pict strawberry and raspberry clamshells are now 100% recyclable, composed of 70% recycled water bottles, Grabowski said.

“We want our consumers to feel comfortable knowing we are focused on sustainability for our environment,” he said.

The company promotes its product to consumers and retailers with a regularly updated blog on its website, where consumers can find blog topics ranging from tips and recipes to general berry care. Retailers have access to blogs that feature berry data, crop updates and other tips.