EVENTI

The global trend towards machine harvested blueberries has brought challenges. Machine harvesters are faster and less costly than manual picking, but they also harvest unwanted green and red berries, debris and fruit clusters which cause disruption on production lines and slow down the pack-out.

Normally, one does not find Florida-grown blueberries in supermarkets in autumn. But that could change thanks to researchers at the University of Florida. This is good news for consumers and producers, who could extend their market window by several months.

Agrion organises a technical meeting dedicated to the presentation of the phytosanitary balance and the results of the varietal screening of re-blooming strawberry, blueberry and raspberry and to the presentation of the results of the first observations on agri-voltaics on blueberry. In presence and online.

An investment boom is underway in blueberry cultivation in Zimbabwe. New plantations are being established mainly by investors from neighboring South Africa, thanks to very favorable climatic conditions, availability of high-quality water for irrigation, and cheap labor.

The continuing "mismatch" between prices charged by retailers and production costs may force the UK to start importing berries in larger quantities, Retailers in fact are not paying prices that keep pace with rising production costs.

Justin Mudge (MD of Chiltern Farms) in an exclusive interview to Italian Berry: "The improvements we've seen this season need to be more than a one-time occurrence. It's crucial for the sustainability of the global blueberry business to make this year's positive changes a new norm not an exception."

"GROWING WILD," a short independent documentary that tells the stories of four wild blueberry farms in Maine, is now available online. Their stories and experiences illuminate why "wild" makes a better blueberry and, more importantly, a better world.

Stable price index for Italian retail in week 48/2023: growth in red currant (+5%) and blackberry (+4.3%) indexes, only decrease detected for raspberries with -0.8% compared to the previous week. Slight increase also for references with a total of 63 products in the assortment.

On the rise SKU in week 48/2023: a total of 51 with a +4% increase over the previous week. In contrast, the price index remains stable with a slight decrease of -0.4%.

Due to supply shortages, associated high prices and supply uncertainties, promotional activity in Germany has been significantly reduced in recent weeks compared to previous years.