It's blueberry season in the United States, where the fruit harvest runs from late March or April to late September. 

Florida is the eighth-largest blueberry-growing state, alongside Oregon, Washington, Georgia, New Jersey, and Michigan, Maine, North Carolina and California. Depending on the weather, growers typically begin harvesting in late March.

Ryan Atwood, a central Florida blueberry and strawberry grower and member of the Florida Blueberry Growers Association, spoke with Freshfruitportal.com about this blueberry season and how it's set to start a little later than expected. Supply is also expected to be lower than last year or back to normal after last year's oversupply.

He said the season is looking great so far, with Florida experiencing cooler nights that are helping with fruit quality and very low pest pressure.

Ryan Atwood, central Florida blueberry and strawberry grower

"I think we have a good blueberry crop coming. It's been a little bit on the colder side for Florida, which is delaying our crop slightly. Normally, we start scrapping our evergreen production right about now or maybe in the last week or two of a quote-unquote normal year," Atwood said. "This year, we haven't really begun, so we're a little behind."

Atwood explained that timing is currently not an issue. "Our window is the last week of March and the first two to three weeks of April, and I think we'll have good volume in that window, maybe a little bit less on the last week of March than we typically would have, but I think the peak of the season will be good in April." 

When asked if he's worried about blueberry market saturation this year, he said that happens when Georgia starts coming on. Georgia's blueberry season also seems to be a little later than usual this year.

"I think they probably won't come on until late April, early May," he explained. "From a Florida standpoint, that will allow us to get most of our crop off before they influence the market."

Photo credit: Ryan Atwood

"I hope that Mexico will kind of be out of the way, and then Georgia won't be in play yet, and Florida will kind of have April to itself," he added. "I'm sure there'll be Mexican production in April, but I think it's all about how many pounds per week are coming in." 

He believes prices will be reasonable in April because there will be no Georgia fruit in the market, and Mexico is on time, according to what he's heard from Mexican producers - not late like last year.

As for a production projection, Atwood says he keeps hearing 20 million pounds, a standard number for Florida's blueberry industry.

"It has varied historically from 15 to 25, so 20 is kind of in the middle, a pretty safe number people use."