It's the story of two seasons for Florida blueberry growers. Growers were ahead of last year's harvest, but found COVID-19 that kept prices low.

Cooler weather this year has slowed the growth of the blueberry crop, meaning it will likely be ready for its normal time frame. Hopefully that will mean better prices for producers like Ryan Atwood.

“The weather was colder in January and much of February. The weather has been warming up lately. We're probably playing catch-up a bit lately. It’s not going to be like last year,” said Atwood, who lives in Mount Dora, Florida, and farms 56 acres of blueberries, manages another 350 acres and is part owner of the largest packing house in the southeastern United States. “It was horrible the way everything unfolded last year. It was almost like the rug was being pulled out from under his feet. But you live to fight another day."

Warmer temperatures in 2020

A milder winter last year accelerated the growth of last year's blueberries. Atwood began harvesting large volumes of blueberries around March 18. But it also coincided with the pandemic that closed the country. Market prices reflected the impact of the pandemic.

Early harvests have already started for this year's crop.

“We started scrapping, lightly picking up the Evergreen stuff,” Atwood said. “We are very far from the main part of our harvest. We cultivate a small area of ​​evergreen production. But most of our production is deciduous, and that won't increase until later. “We picked up 400, 500 pounds two weeks ago. Then we picked up 1.800 pounds last week. Now, we're picking up 3,000 pounds this week."