Family Tree Farms gets jump on blueberry season
Family Tree Farms gets jump on blueberry season
By the time the month of February is torn off the wall calendar, Family Tree Farms Marketing LLC has picked its first limited volume of conventional blueberries. “We start quite early, picking very sporadically as early as late February,” Marketing Coordinator Dovey Plain told The Produce News. “But in real terms, we get going in mid-April. May is our peak harvest period and then we’ll trail off through mid-June.”
Daniel Jackson, a member at Family Tree Farms Marketing LLC, holds a tote of blueberries picked in late February. (Photo courtesy of Family Tree Farms Marketing LLC)Located in Reedley, CA, the company is in its seventh blueberry production season and is a major supplier of early California berries. Family Tree Farms has been growing early varieties on the western edge of California’s San Joaquin Valley and has more than two decades of experience growing early season stone fruit in the production area.
According to Ms. Plain, the company has approximately 300 acres planted to blueberries. Some of the blues are grown on acreage under tunnel which facilitates earlier fruit maturation and harvesting. “Weather has been dry and warm, which is perfect for blueberries,” she said. “We avoided any freeze damage this year, so we’re happy about that.”
Because of most of the blueberry bushes are at or near full maturity, Ms. Plain said volume from season to season is leveling off. “We are expecting a slight increase, however, from some of the younger bushes,” she added.
Family Tree Farms markets blues under the “Family Tree Farms” label. Berries 18 millimeters and larger are sorted out and marketed under the “Family Tree Farms Jumbo” label. “That is a very small percentage of the overall crop,” she said.
Berries are marketed throughout North America with some export to Pacific Rim countries.
