“Diamond has been around for close to 60 years,” said Brandon Raso, vice president and general manager of the Hammonton, NJ-based company. “We grow, pack and market our own fruit, and we have generations of experience behind us.”
The company grows on approximately 800 acres, and based on the weather, a typical blueberry season is between 3.5 to 5 million pounds.
“Our customer base is primary focused in the Northeast, but we will send stuff out west; we go to Texas and Florida and even Nevada or California on occasion,” Raso said.
With almost a century of experience in New Jersey, Variety Farms understands what makes the growing region ideal for blueberries.
“Blueberries are native here; they were first commercialized in the early 1900s, and they thrive in New Jersey’s naturally acidic soils,” Raso said. “The sandy soils we have provide the greatest environment for these plants to thrive and produce year after year.”
As of early June, Raso was very optimistic about the early word on blueberries for 2025.
“This year’s crop, I think most Jersey blueberry growers are exceptionally excited about,” he said. “We’ve had great weather. It was a consistently cold winter and coming out of that into the spring, we had consistently warm weather, which allowed our pollinators to effectively pollinated and set a very nice crop.”
The big thing that was avoided this year, which proved to be an issue the past few years with the crop, is the spring frost, which typically damage the berry or flower.
“We escaped all that this year,” Raso said. “There were no frost events and what we’re seeing in the field is a very nice crop with what we expect to be a very nice size of blueberries.”
Not that there aren’t any challenges. Variety Farms is experiencing some of the same issues this year that it has most years.
“Labor is always a big concern for us because it doesn’t matter how many berries you have out in the field if you don’t have the labor to get them in the crates and up to the packinghouse to process,” Raso said. “So far, we’re seeing labor will probably be sufficient this year.”
Another significant concern every year is weather, but as long as Mother Nature cooperates — meaning not too hot and not too much rain during harvest — Raso expects a really great blueberry season in New Jersey overall.
Variety Farms is eager to get some of the new genetic blueberries in the ground, which Raso said would help growers stay on top of consumer trends and marketing trends.
“Consumers want a bigger and better berry, and with new genetics, we find most growers, including ourselves, are putting them in the ground and seeing how they perform and trying to stay up to date on the latest and greatest,” he said.
As a fourth-generation member of the farm team, along with his brother and cousins, Raso feels the family is the core of keeping the company successful.
“There is often a disconnection between what farmers do and what they are required to do to combat all the various challenges that make farming so difficult to begin with,” he said. “Having family here gives us a little bit of a leading edge. We know everyone’s heart is in the right place and strives to see the success continue and carry this thing for another 100 years hopefully.”
