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News
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Oregon blueberries enjoy local and worldwide appeal
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7/7/2010
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Article Content Suggested lead
The cool wet spring might have slowed the ripening of Oregon blueberries this year, but the appeal of the tasty fruit is picking up steam locally and internationally:
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The transition to warmer weather is also heating up the harvest of what could be a record setting crop of blueberries this year:
OSTLUND: "It looks like a great crop out there. Certainly cool weather brings issues, but the fruit is sizing up nicely. Demand for both fresh and processed fruit seems to be very strong this year." :11
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Bryan Ostlund of the Oregon Blueberry Commission says if all goes well, growers could set at all time high for blueberry production in the state this year, at more than 50 million pounds. With all that production, it's nice to have strong local and export markets:
OSTLUND: "We see South Korea on the verge of accepting fresh fruit, primarily from Oregon, for the first time. We've got a little ways to go there yet. Japan has accelerated their demand. China has accelerated their demand. India is a whole new market." :14
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In fact, the Oregon Department of Agriculture has worked closely with buyers in India to promote blueberries- something very new to their consumers who are also interested in the fruit's health benefits. If that market expands, it could be a huge boost for an Oregon commodity that's already doing pretty well. In Salem, I'm Bruce Pokarney.
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OSTLUND says Oregon's blueberry harvest is well underway and could extend as late as this fall:
"The bulk of the harvest will certainly go through mid-August. But we have more and more later maturing varieties to try and extend that window of time. We'll see both local and export markets, those berries will go all the way through certainly September and some very late season stuff that might even be first of October." :17
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OSTLUND says it's time to say goodbye to the cool wet weather Oregon has experienced most of the past few months. There is a key ingredient to a good blueberry season at this point:
"Warm weather. One of the components of sweet, tasty blueberries is sunny weather. It's part of the development process of blueberries and warm weather is on the way and it couldn't be better timing." :14
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Full story
http://oregon.gov/ODA/news/100707blueberries.shtml |
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