The Washington Blueberry Commission (WBC) held its third quarter Board meeting on Thursday, July 11, where various topics were discussed, including the production volume projection for 2024. 

Alan Schreiber, Executive Director of the WBC, chaired the meeting. He reported that their initial assessment indicates Washington State will produce 180 million pounds of blueberries this season.

"I believe production in eastern Washington is even stronger than we thought, while some fields in the northwest are not as good as we expected, but a lot are looking strong," Schreiber said. 

Schreiber went on to ask the meeting members if anyone believed the projection should be revised, to which no one thought it necessary. 

Brenton Roy, owner of Oasis Farms said he doesn't think it's necessary to move the estimated projection up or down, mainly due to weather conditions. 

"There's plenty of reason to be cautious right now," Roy said. "We went through some record heat last week and it will probably stay hot for a while, so I would not move that projection up at all."

Paul Sangha, vice chairman of the WBC Board also agreed that he wouldn’t move it up at all, and would wait to see what happens when farmers start harvesting within the next week in Whatcom County. 

On the other hand, raspberry and blueberry farmer Todd Van Mersbergen said he would even lower the projection a bit.

He added that the size of the fruit is better than last year and that new fields are coming into production. 

WBC Promotions and work

The WBC has an annual budget of over $362,000 for promotions, of which the Indonesia/ Thailand promotion takes up the most part. 

The Commission is also working with the US Highbush Blueberry Council and the North American Blueberry Council to tackle various issues for the U.S. blueberry industry in general. 

Understanding the cold storage report, Kasey Cronquist, president of the US Highbush Blueberry Council, said is critical to the success of the industry.

The organizations are working on data platforms for frozen and fresh blueberries, which will help understand how the industry works better. 

The USHBC launched a forecasting module that essentially helps the industry understand what's coming. 

Joseph Vargas, Director of Business Intelligence at USHBC, says the platform gives a clear picture of historical pricing and shipments and inventory of cold storage.

"We anticipate to have most of the major processors in the West coast to report into the inventory," Vargas said. "We are off to a good start and we are shooting to have the first report ready by the end of the Pacific northwest season."

He assured that the development of this inventory report will really impact the bottom line for growers. 

Essentially, what members want industry participants to understand is that a collaborative approach to information sharing  serves to benefit everyone's understanding of how the industry runs. 

The data includes changes in acreage, weather monitoring, among a lot of other things. 

Farm bill

Regarding a new farm bill, Alyssa Houtby, Director of Government Affairs for the USHBC, said there is not a lot of activity at the moment because Cogress has run out of time to pass a new bill before the November election. 

"I am optimistic we will see a fam bill passed after the election," Houtby said. 

She made a call to action to meeting attendees to speak with Congress members during August to encourage them to push the Ag committee and leadership to work on a new farm bill. 

Korea market access

Houtby also spoke about expanded access for fresh blueberries from Washington and California to Korea. Currently, only Oregon has access. 

"Korea only works one trade agreement at a time, and once they wrap up their negotiations for potatoes, we are next up in line,"she said. "As soon as we get the green light from the USDA, we will discuss what the agreement will be for the two states."