Atlantic Blueberry Co. prepping newer proprietary varieties of blueberries

Coming off a challenging blueberry season last year, Atlantic Blueberry Co., is looking forward to what’s ahead for the 2023 season.

“We’re just scrambling to get everything ready here and we’re expecting a June 12 start,” said Art Galletta, president of the Hammonton, NJ-based company. “The crop looks pretty decent, a lot better than last year when there was frost damage that cut everyone in the state back a little bit.”

Still, the prices were decent last year, he said, which made up for the volume a bit.

“We’re looking forward to a better year and the strategy is always to keep going and get ready for the next year as best we can,” Galletta said.

Being one of the largest family-owned blueberry farms in the world, with more than 1,000 acres, it creates great responsibility for those at Atlantic.

“Our staff is dedicated to perpetuating the highest standards in the industry in order to ensure the safety and wholeness of our products,” Galletta said.

From ethically sourced labor to traceable packaging, Atlantic is at the forefront of innovation in the industry as it works with the industry’s top professionals to ensure that the services it provides are the best available.   

This year, the company transitioned some of its acreage to go into some of the newer proprietary varieties and to get better premium fruit.

“We’re a member of the Michigan Blueberry Association; they have a breeding program and the Berry Blue varieties they come up with are outstanding, so we are changing a lot of acres to that,” Galletta said. “They have great firmness, size and flavor, plus the season that they come in fills a good place here.”

Although the plants are still a little young, these varieties are proving to grow well in New Jersey.

“We’ll have a few to pack this year and more as they mature,” Galletta said.

The blueberry season in New Jersey is expected to start around June 12 as some of the recent cool weather is holding things back a bit. Atlantic will continue harvesting until early August.

“The secret to success is good yields, good quality and good management,” Galletta said. “We try to make the best of any opportunity.”

Atlantic’s fruit is marketed through Naturipe Farms, and it keeps customers happy with good service, on-time deliveries and delivering the right stuff at the right time.

Being near to the major markets on the East Coast gives Atlantic both freight and freshness advantages, and that has long been a key to success.

“We can deliver fruit that’s a day or two old to a lot of areas, so there’s a lot fresher quality,” Galletta said.

This year, the company is renovating the packinghouse by bringing in new equipment such as electronic sorting and fill-by-weight machinery.

“Everything looks really nice,” Galletta said. “We are trying to decrease labor costs wherever we can. Labor is more expensive and harder to get, so by mechanizing as much as possible, we can keep our costs under control.”

Another challenge Atlantic faces each year is the weather, as no matter what it does to prepare, the crops are always at the mercy of Mother Nature.

“Farming has a lot of things that aren’t in our control, with the weather being primary,” he said, “We just do our best and make sure we are ready and prepared for anything that comes our way.”