Blueberries

Planasa celebrates its 50th anniversary in one of the best moments in its history. The company closes 2023 with excellent results as one of the most innovative in the sector: Planasa expects to exceed 70 million EBITDA for this year. It has 4.000 employees and operates in 25 countries,
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Under the "Own Orchard" program, over 73 hectares of blueberry plantations have been established, the largest among all Ukrainian regions participating in the support program. read more

British Berry Growers – which represents 95 per cent of commercial UK softfruit producers – has strongly criticised comments on supermarket pay to farmers made by the British Retail Consortium to the BBC Countryfile programme yesterday (10 December). read more

From January 1 to October 31 this year, Serbia exported 845 tons of fresh raspberries, valued almost €1.7 million. As for frozen raspberry exports, by the end of October, 57,612 tons were exported. The destinations to which Serbia most commonly exports to are: Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands
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The good demand from Europe for blueberries and from China for cherries from Chile is making up for the lower volumes says Cristóbal Valenzuela, Commercial Manager LATAM, of Jaguar the Fresh Company B.V. read more

Back in 2013, a research breeding program for kiwiberries started off in New England. Led by New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station (NHAES) scientist Iago Hale, the kiwiberry research program’s goal is to develop varieties that are both highly adapted to grow in the northeast and have
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On a cool spring New England day in 2013, young kiwiberry vines were planted at the University of New Hampshire's Woodman Horticultural Research Farm, beginning a now-decade-old research breeding program for a crop that may one day be commonplace in the region's agricultural production. Led by
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A blueberry pre-calibrator that uses AI (artificial intelligence) technology to solve the problems arising from automated harvesting. The new machine launched on the market in October 2023 by Tomra is called Neon. Processes up to 500 berries per second Tomra Neon read more

Producers of winter strawberries have always had difficulty achieving the highest window prices when growing in tunnels as well as on open fields due to the impact of hot weather. High temperatures have caused delays in transplanting in the late summer. In addition, the arrival of summer heat
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During the recent Global Berry Congress in Rotterdam, Hans Liekens from Sekoya and Ambrish Karvat from Yupaa spoke about opportunities for blueberries in the Asian markets. read more

A raspberry producer in the Netherlands has invested in what is thought to be the European fruit industry’s largest solar panel installation to date. read more

It's only a short while longer until the Moroccan blueberry season gets going, says SunCrops Sales and Procurement manager German Perez: "Our blueberry season in Morocco has not yet commenced; it begins at the end of December. However, despite last year's challenges, we're actively preparing for
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Shannon Boase from CKF recently gave a presentation at the Global Berry Congress in Rotterdam entitled Better Blues: Costco's Canada Case Study. read more

The EU produces a wide range of fruit, berries and read more

The town of Feijó in western Brazil, known as "The Land of Açaí," has achieved a significant milestone as its açaí berries received a geographical indication (GI) label. Similar to the designation of origin for products like Champagne, the GI label acknowledges the unique characteristics of
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Since mid-November, the cucumber price has been dropping. Last week, the average price at the auctions of the Union of Belgian Horticultural Cooperatives (VBT) fell below the five-year average. The unit price is at 48.10 euro cents. The lettuce price is also dropping, for the first time in
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In southern Africa, the blueberry market is poised for recovery, offering potential benefits to South African farmers amid a slowdown in blueberry production in Peru, the global leader in blueberry exports. Over the past two years, South African producers faced challenges with low prices that
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The TOMRA Neon, a new blueberry pre-harvester with sophisticated AI (artificial intelligence) technology, addresses the challenges of automated harvesting. Joshua Miers-Jones, Global Category Director Blueberry and Avocado at TOMRA Food, explains how. read more

"The exhibitors are satisfied; there was always something going on at the stands. There were even more visitors on the first day of the fair than last year. The new Berry Technology Forum was also very well received and contributed to further internationalization. We can therefore be satisfied
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Berry consumption continues to go up globally and the different varieties are still gaining popularity. On the flipside however, the sensitive fruit category is faced with a relatively high share of spoilage. “The combination of high demand and high spoilage provided us with the opportunity to
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