ISHS Acta Horticulturae 715: VIII International Symposium on Vaccinium Culture
BLUEBERRY PRODUCTION AND RESEARCH TRENDS IN NORTH AMERICA |
| Author: | B. Strik |
| Keywords: | Vaccinium corymbosum, Vaccinium ashei, Vaccinium angustifolium, northern highbush, southern highbush, rabbiteye, lowbush, markets, machine harvest, pests, cultivars, area planted |
| DOI: | 10.17660/ActaHortic.2006.715.25 |
| Abstract:
In the last 10 years, the area planted to all blueberries in North American increased 30% to 96,869 ha. During this period, lowbush blueberry area increased 33% and highbush 22%. In the USA, the area planted to “highbush” (northern and southern highbush and rabbiteye) blueberries increased from 19,758 to 22,393 ha from 1992 to 2003, a 13% increase. In 2003, the Midwest region of the USA accounted for 36% of the area of highbush blueberries planted. The South, New England, and Western regions accounted for 28%, 17%, and 14% of the planted area in 2003, respectively. Specific states in the USA that had considerable growth from 1992 to 2003 were California, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington. In Canada, the area planted to highbush blueberries increased 102% to 4397 ha. Commercial blueberry plantings in Mexico were estimated at 28 ha in 2003. In the USA, total lowbush area increased 6% since 1992 with Maine accounting for 97% of the area planted. In Canada, lowbush area increased 57% since 1992 with 37% and 34% of the area planted in Quebec and Nova Scotia, respectively. The blueberry industry is still projected to grow considerably in the next 5 to 10 years. Highbush blueberries in the USA are expected to increase 16% and 35% in the next 5 or 10 years, respectively. In Canada, planted area of highbush blueberries is expected to increase by 22% in 5 years and 25% in 10 years. If projections are correct, planted area in Mexico will increase by almost 30 fold in 10 years. The managed area of lowbush blueberries is expected to increase by 10% to 20% in the next 5 to 10 years. Data on typical yields, types of cultivars grown, markets, proportion of machine harvest, major production problems, changes in production practices and research areas are presented. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
