Ariel Singerman, Marina Burani-Arouca, Jeffrey G. Williamson, and Gary K. England
The United States is the world’s largest producer of blueberries, with Michigan being the top producing state. In 2014, US blueberry production was estimated at 576 million pounds. That year, Michigan growers produced 99 million pounds of blueberries, while Florida’s growers produced 20 million pounds of fruit (USDA/NASS 2015a). Nationwide, Florida’s blueberry production represented only 3.54% of total US production and 9% of total US value. The relatively higher value of Florida production is due to the advantage of producing the first crop of domestic blueberries each calendar year, which means growers obtain higher prices during the early market window (Williamson et al. 2015). In fact, the average price received by growers in Florida during the last three years was 2.5 times that of the US average (USDA/NASS 2015b).
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