Jamie Petchell says interest, demand, production and supply continue to increase at ”impressive levels” globally
There is a positive feel around the blueberry business, in part generated by plant breeding and the development of better varieties.
That is the view of Jamie Petchell, co-owner and director of Global Plant Genetics (GPG), who has offered his perspective on global blueberry production.
In a comment piece, Petchell confirmed that interest, demand, production and supply of blueberries continued to increase at ”impressive levels” on a global scale.
”There is so much positivity around the sector, whether talking to consumers about health benefits and flavour, or to growers about improved cultivation practices and season extension, or to fruit marketers about increased volumes of better quality fruit, it is hard not to get caught up in the blueberry tidal wave of alacrity,” he said.
”One crucial aspect that contributes to all of these factors is within plant breeding and its ability to deliver a better blueberry experience for all involved in the supply chain.
“The development of improved blueberry varieties has played a pivotal role in the huge development of the crop over the recent past,” Petchell explained.
He outlined that, on a global scale, it was recognised that there were more than 260,000ha of blueberry plantations in production, growth of 30 per cent since 2019.
In calculated estimations, today’s plantations were split close to equal between production in warmer and cooler climates.
Generally, low-chill/Southern Highbush types were used in hot and warm climates with high-chill/Northern Highbush cultivars used in cooler and temperate regions.
In addition, some locations were using appreciable volumes of Rabbiteye as well as mid-chill cultivars, Petchell continued.
”Over the past ten years, there has been a large breeding focus on the development of Southern Highbush blueberries for establishment and production in warmer growing regions.
”As a result, blueberry fruit quality and yields have improved substantially from major producing regions in these climate types,” he noted.
”Correspondingly, the advancement in Northern Highbush genetics has been much less discernible. In addition, yields per hectare are appreciably higher in low-chill genetics and the gap to high-chill has increased even further in the recent past.”
There was now a ”massive opportunity and challenge” in the Northern Highbush/high-chill blueberry sector, Petchell pointed out.
Firstly, consumers, retailers and fruit marketers expected fruit quality standards across the whole 12-month window to be at a level supplied by the leading low-chill varieties.
Secondly, from a grower’s perspective, as well as improved fruit quality, new Northern Highbush varieties also needed to deliver in terms of higher production yields to compete on a more level playing field with their low-chill counterparts.
”At GPG, we are delighted to be working closely with the team at Oregon Blueberry in the USA,” said Petchell.
”The breeding efforts at this programme include the development of new varieties for all major growing climates. This very much includes fundamentally augmented blueberry genetics for high-chill regions.
”We will soon be sharing some exciting news about new releases from the programme,” he added. ”These are set to be game-changing in the Northern Highbush blueberry arena. Stay tuned!”
