Surely, this next crop of organic blueberries from Florida will be similar in volume to last year.

“Very good quality is expected in Florida this year,” says Teddy Koukoulis of Plant City, Fla.-based Wish Farms, who says he has already begun harvesting his berries Misty Organics at their Alturas farm, where the fruit is grown under tunnels. “We are very happy with what we have seen in terms of quality and what we are going to see.”

Florida will compete with the end of the Chilean harvest and also with the volumes from Mexico. While Florida typically competes directly with Mexico, Chile should surely finish by the end of March. “Mexico will have more production than last season. Some plantations have come into production and it is a large producing region, so I think there will be some Mexican pressure on the market,” says Koukoulis. "Hopefully, a lot of the Mexican production will stay west of the Mississippi, so we can meet the demand on the east coast of Florida."

Creation of opportunities
Meanwhile, the demand for organic blueberries continues to grow. “I think it's increasing. Conventional demand is also rising. But, as an industry, we have to do more to create demand and more opportunities for people to eat blueberries,” says Koukoulis.

This could include things like promotions, which may be limited on the organic product. “Organic has less elasticity, so when we call a retailer conventional to make a 'two for one' or similar offer, something like this is rarely seen with an ecological product”, he adds. "And although there is not as much space on the shelves for the organic product as for the conventional one, I do think that I am seeing more space on the organic shelves."

As for the prices this season, Koukoulis, who notes that "the price hasn't been fantastic in the last year or two," thinks the price will probably stay more or less the same. “Although hopefully it will be a little higher,” he adds.