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.

Salix Fruits plays a crucial role in the summer citrus category by supplying top customers in the American market with a wide variety of citrus fruits, including mandarins, oranges and lemons.

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.

It was four years ago when Fru-Veg Marketing first partnered with Berry Bros. allowing the company to expand its blueberry program to include domestic blueberries to customers from farm-to-table. It also created a 12-month, year-round supply of fresh blueberries.