Berry Bountiful

This week I will be discussing the data and statistics on blueberry production in California, as well as its comparison to production in the rest of the United States.

In 2014 California, according to the USDA, harvested 5,000 acres of blueberries, ranked seventh nationally with a yield of 10,700 pounds per acre which is the highest production rate in the nation for the commodity. These blueberries are valued at over $126 million which is also the highest in the nation.

More recently, 2016, California moved upwards to be ranked second nationally in both the monetary value as well as yield per acre. The blueberry production in California as a whole has increased to an overall value of just over $139 million. These blueberries are all grown on only 6,400 acres, which is substantially smaller acreage than many other major crops, with 30,600 tons harvested and ranked the 40th highest overall value crop in California.

Ranked below is the top five blueberry producing counties in California:

#1. Tulare County - 32.7 percent

#2. Kern County - 23.6 percent

#3. San Joaquin County- 19.1 percent

#4. Ventura County - 12.4 percent

#5. Fresno County - 5.7 percent

While California is amongst the top ranking states in blueberry production, it is one of the lower ranked states, at the 34th state in exports, and the export value has shown a trend to continue to decrease. In 2015, $50 million dollars were exported; whereas, in 2016, $43 million was exported, a 12.8 percent decrease.

Ranked below are California’s exports in 2016 internationally by country/region:

#1. Canada - 64 percent

#2. Europe - 13 percent

#3. China - 5 percent

#4. Japan - 5 percent

#5. Korea < 5 percent

#6. Other - 14 percent

In 2015 through 2016, growers received an average of $5.08 per pound of harvested blueberries. While California has all of this production, exporting and local uses, at a a high price per pound, a large amount of the product goes to waste every year. In 2015, 100 tons of harvested goods weren't used and in 2016 even more, 400 tons, weren't used or sold to consumers.

Next week I will be discussing how the common consumer can utilize blueberries in their everyday life, check in next Thursday for updates!

Sources

https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/New_Jersey/Publications/Blueberry_Statistics/2014%20Blueberry%20Statistics.pdf

https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics/PDFs/2016-17AgReport.pdf

https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/New_Jersey/Publications/Blueberry_Statistics/2016%20BLUEBERRYSUM.pdf

https://learnaboutag.org/resources/fact/blueberries.pdf