It’s a bountiful summer of blueberries for California Giant Berry Farms, as the company forecasts giant volumes of blues ahead. The grower’s high yields and exceptional quality continue as consumer demand for blueberries remains firmly in place.  

For Sonny Boy Produce, blueberries are its No. 1 seller throughout the year.

“Our family has been involved in pushing blues for over 40 years and has been at the forefront of the growth of the item,” said Tom Consalo, president of the company. “We were among the first to make deliveries into Canada and many other market areas. During the local New Jersey season, many areas rely on us for their supply and expect quality product which we pride ourselves on delivering.”

The blueberry industry is a key piece of New Jersey’s agricultural history. Elizabeth White developed the first cultivated highbush blueberries in the Garden State and was the first woman to receive a citation from the New Jersey Department of Agriculture. She also helped form the New Jersey Blueberry Cooperative Association in 1927.

Trucco Inc., the importing/distribution sister company of wholesaler A.J. Trucco, which has been around for more than eight decades, first operating in downtown Manhattan and eventually becoming a staple at the Hunts Point Terminal Market in the Bronx in 1965, is expanding in blueberries.

It’s a category the company first entered about 10 years ago, and today it offers fresh, sweet blueberries from an international network of growers year-round.

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.

Diamond Blueberry Inc. is gearing up for another blueberry season in New Jersey, something the farm has prepared for over the last eight decades.

“We have a decent crop out there,” said Dave Berger, who heads sales at the Hammonton, NJ-based company. “If Mother Nature gives us a good window, things should be pretty good this summer.”

That’s good news considering 2022 wasn’t the best start of a season. Berger explained that the beginning of the blueberry season was off because of the early spring weather.