VINELAND, NJ — Consalo Family Farms is expecting to handle more volume of New Jersey blueberries in the 2015 season than it did last season, according to Tom Consalo, vice president of The Freshwave, which is the sole marketer of all products grown by Consalo Family Farms.

As to the timing of this year’s crop, “Right now we’re looking at [starting] a few days earlier than last year,” Consalo told The Produce News Tuesday afternoon, May 26, at the company’s office here in southern New Jersey.

Tom Consalo, vice president of The Freshwave, which is the sole marketer of all products grown by Consalo Family Farms.Last year, which experienced an extremely long and cold winter and early spring, the company started Jersey blues on June 19, which is a few days later than traditional norms. For the coming season, “We look to start right around the 15th, which is kind of dead-on for a traditional starting date,” he said.

When the Jersey blueberries do start, Consalo was expecting excellent quality statewide. There was “heavy bloom,” he noted, and “at this point, the quality looks great.”

Asked about expected volume for the company, he replied, “It looks to be on par with if not a little more than last year for Consalo Family Farms.” More specifically, he said that in 2014, “We moved about 7.5 million pounds for the fresh market. This year I do see it being just over 9 million pounds.” He attributed the expected increase “to both increased production on our existing farms and the acquisition of our new farm.”

The company’s existing acreage is about 50 percent Duke variety and 50 percent Bluecrop variety. The new acreage is pretty similar in that respect, but “we’re in the process of trying some new varieties which would come [to harvest] later in the season,” he said.

The Freshwave, headed by Skip Consalo, handles a full line of fruits and vegetables from all over the world, but blueberries are its key item. As such, the company has a comprehensive program in place to make sure that it has blueberries on hand to supply its customers virtually all year long. It offers Chilean blueberries generally during January, February and March, moving to Georgia from around mid-April to the end of May. North Carolina usually has berries from around mid-May to mid-June. New Jersey historically is producing from mid-June to late August, with Michigan and British Columbia shipping from mid-August to mid-September. Argentina completes the cycle from around October into mid-December.

Blueberries actually make up about 50 percent of the company’s volume, and Jersey blues comprise 50 percent of that, Tom Consalo stated. So generally speaking, New Jersey blueberries represent about 25 percent of the company’s overall volume.

He described the blueberry market as “steady” at the end of May, although “we’re coming off a bit of a gap between Georgia and North Carolina,” he said. “Now we’re seeing the market stabilize. Right now there’s a lot of fruit to come, so we’re being aggressive in promoting ad volume.”

And while fresh blueberries have become more available all year long, Jersey blueberries are still top of mind at this time of the year for many people. “New Jersey blueberries are our baby, and there’s always an exciting feeing about them,” he stated. “This is a really good time of the year.”