The Covid-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions to agriculture around the world. More specifically, many of the challenges facing the fruit and vegetable industry have to do with new changes in the way consumers obtain products at home.

As habits change and buyers look for new products, as described in the Florida blueberry industry, vendors are unsure what demand and prices will look like in the coming weeks.

So things like cost of production and logistics need to be monitored in the future, as no one is quite sure what prices will look like in the pandemic.

“This is a difficult time, everyone along the chain is affected, especially the producers. Everyone is doing their best and I see a lot of empathy among people in the industry,” Cort Brazelton, co-CEO of Fall Creek Farm and Nursery, recently told FreshFruitPortal.com.

Blueberry prices in Florida are currently a little lower than they usually are at this time of year. In week 15, blueberry prices were around US $ 4,90 / kg, which is 50% lower than at the same time last year.

Florida blueberry prices USD / kg in the US market

Source: USDA Market News through Agronometrics.

There have been concerns about Florida blueberries in recent seasons as Mexican blueberries are slowly gaining ground.

As seen in the table below, Mexican blueberry volumes have increased in the past five years.

Volume (kg) of Mexican blueberries in the market from USA

Source: USDA Market News through Agronometrics.

We will have to wait to see what happens to prices in the coming weeks. Now, there are large volumes of fruit heading to the US, and due to the Covid-19 situation, consumption does not seem to balance such high volumes.