Members of the American Blueberry Growers Alliance (ABGA), a group representing U.S. domestic blueberry growers, provided information to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) today during a hearing on the impact of increased US imports during the growing and harvest seasons.

U.S. blueberry growers across the country, mostly small family farms, have been devastated by an influx of blueberry imports by 75 percent in the past five years, according to U.S. import data.

“With domestic demand booming, we should enjoy a market where there is room for domestic and foreign growers to benefit,” said Jerome Crosby, chairman of the ABGA board of directors and owner of Pineneedle Farms in Willacoochee, Georgia .

“However, foreign government policies directed at the US market and large corporate import interests have combined to bring large volumes of blueberries to our market, increasingly during periods that in the past provided growers with the greatest part of their income and often all of their earnings for the year.”

"The massive increase in Mexican imports during our harvest season has crippled Florida's blueberry industry and threatens its very existence," said Brittany Lee, executive director of the Florida Blueberry Growers Association and owner of Florida Blue.

“During the period 2009 to 2019, we saw that imports from Mexico increased by 2,111 percent. We have experienced a significant decrease in the price per pound of fresh blueberries in Florida and a large loss of market share. "

Farmers said that the U.S. blueberry industry has gone to great lengths in marketing efforts for many years to educate buyers and consumers about blueberries, which has increased demand.

“Foreign growers are benefiting from these efforts, in some cases creating industries from scratch and exploiting cheap labor and poor environmental regulation abroad,” said Rex Schultz of Heritage Blueberries, chair of the Blueberry Advisory Committee at Michigan.

“Producers in foreign countries are totally dependent on our market and have every incentive to keep sending more and more products here. This is not a sustainable situation for the American blueberry grower."

Imports have also had a devastating effect on blueberry growers in western states.

“Ten years ago, imports played an important role in ensuring the supply of fresh berries in the few months that is no longer the case,” said Jayson Scarborough, a blueberry grower in central California.

“Imports from Mexico and Peru, in particular, now enter our market during our harvest period in California. The prices of these imported berries are extremely low, which means that when we start to sell our crops the price has already deteriorated significantly, due to the presence of large volumes of imported fruit in the market ”.

Farmers said large quantities of fresh blueberries from Mexico and South America often arrive without a buyer.

"The Peruvian product can arrive in massive shipments, with hundreds of thousands and even millions of pounds of fresh perishable blueberries, in a deep-sea ship that has been in transit for at least two weeks before being unloaded in US ports", said Shelly Hartmann, owner of True Blue Farms, in Grand Junction, Michigan.

“When these blueberries are released all at once on the fresh market, they cause prices to drop. This pushes domestic production of blueberries grown for the fresh market to the frozen market."

In addition, several members of Congress also testified before the ITC in support of U.S. blueberry growers, including Representatives Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R - Ga.), Gregory Steube (R-Fla.) And John Rutherford (R-Fla.).

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) is conducting a global safeguard investigation on fresh, chilled or frozen blueberries imported under Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974. The ITC will determine whether the dramatic increase of foreign berries is "a substantial cause of injury, or threat thereof" to US blueberry growers.