Berry Growers Must Keep Up With Information
November 1, 2007 
Have you noted an increasing demand and eagerness to pick berries of all kinds at your farm recently? It seems to us that more and more Americans are getting the message being presented by our government, medical, and nutritional researchers and horticulturists: Berries of all types, the more varied the colors the better, are good for your health! An ancient philosopher wrote, “You are what you eat.” Now, nutritional scientists have proven it so. Also, our public schools now are going toward more healthy meals with less fat, and more fruits and vegetables for our children — great news for our berry, tree fruit, and vegetable growers!
Here at our U-Pick farm featuring blueberries, blackberries, late summer primocane raspberries (red and yellow), and seedless grapes (red, white, and blue fruit colored varieties), we note the high percentage of lean, fit, and trim, health-conscious folks who come to pick. They are eager to sign onto our berry pickers listserv to notify them when our various berries are in season and for instant updates on picking schedules. This direct communication with our customer base has totally replaced our use of expensive newspaper ads and all other forms of media advertising, saving us several thousand dollars each year in advertising costs!
We growers need to make plans to increase our variety of offerings to meet this rising consumer demand for all types and colors of fresh berries. For example, in this region, I sincerely believe there should be at least one season-long, multiple berry crops grower near every town and city.
Look at my home state of Virginia, for example: There are more than 600 towns and cities listed in our official state highways map, some small, some large, but only a pitifully small number of strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, and raspberry farms exist in this state. To me, this makes no sense in this rapidly urbanizing region of increasingly health-conscious (read: berry conscious) citizens. Traditional farming enterprises are time-honored here, but I believe it is high time for more growers to consider these new crop opportunities driven by consumer interest in healthy eating.
Educate Yourself
Berries farming, to offer consumers a season-long variety of berries harvested in succession from spring into early fall, is a full-time job, not a part-time or “supplemental” enterprise. Please plan to give focused, full-time management and operational effort to this business. Where can traditional or non-berry growing farm families find the needed information to learn the nuts and bolts details of berry crops production and marketing they must have to transition into successful berry enterprises? Make plans now to attend a major regional or national berry crops educational conference that specializes in information on berry crops!
Such meetings bring together interested growers as well as experienced berry growers, industry suppliers, and research/Extension berry workers presenting and exchanging ideas and information including the latest research results to benefit our berries industry. Such meetings are “complete buffets” for the mind and soul of berry growers and those wanting to learn how to grow berries successfully.
To stay in the educational, informational, and social loop of berry crops growers, a second vital step is to join and support berry grower organizations dedicated to improving the berry crops industry of growing and marketing these tasty, nutritious crops. For example, if your interest is in growing and marketing raspberries and blackberries, you should consider joining the nationwide association, the
North American Bramble Growers Association (www.raspberryblackberry.com; [email protected]). For strawberry growing interest, you should consider joining the nationwide strawberry growers association, the North American Strawberry Growers Association ([email protected]; www.nasga.org). In this Southeast region, an example of a fine regional strawberry growers meeting is the annual Southeast Strawberry Expo, sponsored by the North Carolina Strawberry Association, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, North Carolina State University (NCSU) Cooperative Extension Service, and other land grant universities in the states of South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia. Contact [email protected].
If your interest is in blueberry farming, you should consider joining the national U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (www.blueberry.org). In this region, an excellent growers’ meeting is held annually by the North Carolina Blueberry Council in cooperation with NCSU Extension blueberry specialist, Bill Cline. Go to www.ncblueberrycouncil.org.
I invite you to attend the National Berry Conference Jan. 29-31, 2008, in Hershey, PA, combining the national raspberry, blackberry, and strawberry growers associations listed above. Vegetable, tree fruit, and blueberry growers also will find educational sessions devoted to these crops in concurrent meetings of the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention. This one conference goes beyond buffet to complete smorgasbord of grower information! The raspberry/blackberry and strawberry grower associations listed above can link you to this combined growers conference, so let’s get with the program this winter!
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