1. The Australian Blueberry Industry
An Attempt to Build International partnerships
And
Building Value To Supply Chains
A Brief History
The first Australian blueberries were marketed at the Victorian Wholesale market in January
1976. A dozen 12 punnet trays of 475 gram punnets from Research and Development
plants at the Horticultural Research Institute, Knoxfield were taken and offered to a number of
merchants. Despite their popularity in the United States, blueberries were unknown in
Australia, and not one agent recognized them at that time. I suspect that the Macadamia story
might have some parallels with this in terms of public recognition at the same time.
A program of raising seedlings brought in from the University of Michigan breeding program
had been initiated in the early 1970’s, and from that program, a number of Knoxfield selections
were released (very quickly, under pressure from potential blueberry growers) to nurseries for
propagation. From those releases, by far the most successful variety released was Brigitta,
which is still the most popular variety planted in Southern Australia, and is still grown today in
the Americas and Europe.
The harvesting season for the industry in the Southern States was from December through
until February, using local selections and varieties imported from the U.S.
It became very clear that there was a “window of opportunity” in the Northern Hemisphere
blueberry market between the end of the season in Michigan in early September, and the
commencement of production in the Southern Hemisphere blueberry producing countries of
New Zealand, Chile, Argentina and South Africa. A similar “shoulder” also existed in Northern
hemisphere Markets from late February, at the end of the Southern Hemisphere season, until
mid April when the Florida growers commence production. Even today, these two shoulders
are still the highest priced periods in the markets. What was apparent as an opportunity in
seasonality and export for blueberries again had a parallel in macadamias with the recognition
of the potential to export.
Varieties were imported from Florida and Georgia in the late 1970’s and from these trials were
made to identify the earliest varieties that could fill the export September – October window of
opportunity from Australian growers. The industry in Northern NSW began to flourish in the
early 80’s with corporate farms in the Coffs Harbour region, and by 1986 the industry there
accounted for a high proportion of the Australian production.
The two year quarantine for bringing in blueberry varieties may be an issue for the impatient,
however, it has had some interesting positive consequences. To date there have still not been
any viruses of blueberries identified here. Until 2003, blueberry rust, had been kept out of
Australia, meaning that most of the varieties tested had kept their leaves over winter and this
evergreening affect led to earlier producing plants. Trials with winter fertigation led to the
development of a practice now followed in many parts of the world and known as

2. “evergreening”. Particularly when grown in tunnels and in very dry climates, evergreening
allows the plants to produce fruit very early and a long season of production became possible.
The Australian Blueberry Growers Association
The peak body representing blueberry growers in Australia is the Australian Blueberry Growers
Association, with 150 members ranging from small organic growers to the large corporate
growers. The ABGA funds its promotions and research and development programs with a
voluntary levy .
Members of the ABGA rejected the notion of a statutory levy for a number of reasons,
including the fact that it did not have the teeth to levy fresh imports from New Zealand and
frozen imports from Chile, Canada and China, as is the case with the North American
Blueberry Industry. It was considered by the members that by having a voluntary levy, of 30
cents per tray, this would give the industry much greater flexibility in deciding its own funding
priorities. The levy raises in excess of $230,000 each year, and is supported by all major
growers and, representing over 80% of the industry.
Since its inception about 5 years ago, the levy has been used to fund an annual promotion
campaign as well as various Research and Development priorities. The marketing sub
committee contracts with a promotions group to provide various marketing strategies, including
in store promotions, getting blueberries into people’s mouths, the most effective way of
increasing store sales. Also, there are promotions at food and wine festivals, advertising, torch
displays in front of shopping centres and contributions to newspapers and magazines.
Blueberries are reported to be the fastest growing fresh produce product in both major
supermarket chains over the past year, and this has obviously been helped along by the
articles that keep popping up in newspapers and magazines about the health benefits of
blueberries. Supermarkets are reporting a surge in demand for convenience food, with one
chain reporting that 65% of shoppers in its stores now use hand baskets rather than trollys.
People are visiting the stores more frequently to purchase fresh and choose products such as
punnets that suit shopping baskets.
The Research and Development budget is important in the funding of the following areas :
 Market access issues, both domestic and for export markets
 Chemical registrations and supporting research towards providing the APVMA with data
 Some research into cultural issues. An example of this is the current research projects
being carried out on the effects of biochar from waste organic materials on soil health.
The North American Highbush Blueberry Council has a research and development budget in
excess of $US1 million annually, and the highest proportion of this is spent supporting
research at both scientific research centres and medical research centres into the health
effects of the various phytochemicals in the blueberry. The growth in consumtion of blueberries
in the US and worldwide has been a direct result of the research data becoming widely
publicized that blueberries are a very healthy food. Perhaps more can be done along these
lines to assess and promote the health benefits of macadamia nuts.

3. MARKETS
The blueberry industry in Australia has three primary market targets … fresh domestic , fresh
export and process. The proportion going to export and to process varies from season to
season depending on local domestic supply and prices, and can be used to divert fruit from
the local markets to reduce the pressure on prices caused by large volumes of fruit.
DOMESTIC MARKETS … one of the strengths of the industry has been the co-operation of
many of the growers in marketing. Rather than going into the wholesale markets and
supermarkets and cutting prices, more than 80% of the domestic product is marketed through
the Costa / Driscoll group, and with the fact that this group is also strong in other berries, this
has meant that the industry has maintained some control over pricing and supply. With supply
from both the northern, lowchilling areas and the southern states, as well as good results from
modified atmosphere storage at the end of the southern season it is possible for the Australian
Blueberry Industry to supply the domestic market for close to 10 months of the year. Co-
operation within the industry has been a strength that should be investigated even at at an
international symposium such as this.
With local breeding programs pushing for earlier varieties in the north and lateness in the
South, the “holy grail” is to have a 12 months consistent fresh supply of blueberries, much
sought after by the supermarkets. The local breeding programs of both Mountain Blue
Orchards (MBO) and BerryExchange (BX) have also had a much stronger emphasis on
consumer qualities than many of the varieties developed in the United States. With the
Australian blueberries, the most important qualities that attract the consumer are as follows
 Taste … the flavor range of blueberries is quite wide, varying from strongly acid to high
in sugar. A balanced sugar to acid ratio is the aim., there are some blueberry varieties
currently on the market that are either acidic or mealy, and they bring a lower price
when other varieties are available. Taste is most important.
 Crispness … With a number of convenience fruits now, such as cherries and grapes,
there is a consumer preference for fruit that pops or crunches, and with blueberries
there are now varieties developed in Australia that have this characteristic. It is one of
the reasons that the Australian varieties are so sought after in overseas blueberry
growing areas.
 Size … there is no doubt that the consumer has a preference for larger berries, with a
strong bloom, that present well in the punnet. At MBO, we have developed a number of
“jumbo” varieties that average between 4 and 6 grams per berry, compared with most of
the public varieties and some of the varieties grown around Coffs harbor that average
between 1 an 2 grams per berry.
Our experience in the blueberry industry is clear and simple, and applies equally to
macadamias as well as anything else … marketing a good product and presenting it well, will
bring a premium in the market, and have retailers asking for the brand in preference to others.

4. So far this season, we have again proved the fact that if the fruit presents well, and has been
properly picked, packed and cooled, that it will bring a premium price in the market place.
Growers that have taken a short term view and planted varieties that may be early, but have
poor consumer appeal,, will learn the hard way that the Supermarkets will only stock their
product when they are desperate due to a lack of quality fruit on the market.
We have been accused on occasion of going overboard on quality, however, at times during
the season last year, when there was a significant pressure on the prices because of volume
and poor quality fruit in the market, , MBO fruit stayed in high demand, and held a premium
price always. We encourage our pickers to taste sample the fruit and get to know what a good
quality, properly ripe fruit looks like, and then to go and pick only quality berries. I am sure that
this principle holds just as much for macadamias as it does for blueberries.
Despite the fact that there are supermarket standards that allow for a certain percentage of
blemished fruit in a punnet, in our packing shed, we have a zero tolerance for blemishes and
soft fruit. We have a premium label, and another label that we pack into when the fruit quality is
suspect due to conditions beyond our control, such as rain affected fruit. We track fruit trays
in the shed to the individual picker. We have a policy that is enforced with the pickers, that if
there are reports back from the packing shed about the fruit quality of an individual picker, then
that person is shown again how to pick quality, however, if they continue to pick poor quality ,
they are asked to leave. We pay higher harvest rates than most other growers, however, we
have savings with the quality in the packing shed, and we achieve better prices in the market
place.
Picker training in good hand picking methods is the key to blueberry quality. I suspect that in
the macadamia industry, the key to producing a “top shelf” product lies with the grower and the
ability to develop quality systems of harvesting and cultural practice.
OVERSEAS MARKETS
Australian blueberries are exported to Asia, and to the UK in our unique window of opportunity,
before fruit from Chile causes the prices to fall, due to the fruit being cheaper, and this largely
due to much lower labour rates.
The Australian varieties are sought after by retailers, because the fruit is better flavoured, with
good firmness and bloom. On Blueberry Breeder “get togethers” with overseas breeders, as
we all walk through seedling fields looking at new possibilities, it becomes obvious that most
of the breeders look at non flavor characteristics such as productivity or fruit size, whereas, we
try the blueberry for flavor and texture, and if it doesn’t taste good, there is no use in persisting
with that seedling. I am sure that it should be the same in the macadamia industry, with buyers
identifying the most consistent and best quality product, paying a premium for it with a loyalty
developing to that brand.
Varieties developed by both MBO and BX have been so much in demand in the UK that
Marks and Spencer invited the two companies to form a partnership with local strawberry
growers, Agrogailes, in Morocco to grow and supply fruit from those varieties into the UK

5. market in the March early April period, the reverse season to here. A registered company ,
African Blue S.A. was formed under Moroccan law, and the third harvest has just been
completed, and successfully marketed into the United Kingdom. This is a clear example of
what can happen if you have a premium product … the world will come to you.
BX and MBO both formed alliances with American companies to grow their varieties in both
California and Mexico. BX licenced their new varieties to the big American berry company,
Driscolls. MBO licenced their new varieties exclusively to Family Tree Farms, a large stone
fruit and corn producer, whose commitment to quality very much matched where MBO wanted
to be aligned in the market. FTF will licence exclusively MBO varieties from Australia, and will
pay an ongoing “production royalty”, based on yields and market returns. I understand that
some of these collaborations with overseas producers are already happening in the
macadamia industry, and this can be of very significant benefit to all parties.
Joint ventures and licencing possibilities are being looked at by both companies in various
Asian localities and also in South America.
In the blueberry industry, BX and MBO have both recognised the importance of breeding for
superior plants and fruit quality to gain a strategic market edge. The Australian macadamia
industry may have similar goals to be recognized and to differentiate itself from other growing
nations. This differentiation could well come from improving all farm practices, particularly
those that affect nut quality, by careful selection of suitable varieties to grow, by high quality
standards set in the processing factories and by the development of new “value added”
products that can be marketed.
PROCESSING AND MACHINE HARVEST
Currently there are not a lot of blueberries that are harvested by the big “over-the –row”
harvesters for the fresh market retailers , due to the softening affect on the berries, the loss of
bloom and the poor shelf life. In the US there are some supermarket chains who will not accept
fresh blueberries that have been machine harvested.
In Australia, the process market stands at about 2500 tonnes, however much of this comes
from Poland, Chile and to a lesser degree, China. Even with the help of machines to harvest
here in Australia, the margins are lower because of higher labour costs and the high Australian
dollar value.
FUTURE GOALS
Each and every grower or processor in the audience should have a clear picture of what their
goals are for the future, in order to give some planning direction to the business. . I have
outlined here in conclusion what I consider to be our goals at Mountain Blue Orchards in the
foreseeable future.
• Further develop and expand international relationships

6. • Invest in Southern Australia to increase availability of MBO fruit throughout the season
from January to April
• Continue to invest in blueberry breeding with the goal of selecting highly flavoured,
jumbo varieties, for subtropical localities in Australia and worldwide.
• Continue to evaluate and develop best practice cultural methods
• To plant 100 hectares of new premium varieties on land recently purchased at Tabulam
in New South Wales.
• Help maintain domestic relationships to ensure market quality and protection
• Further investigate promotion opportunities to ensure demand is maintained within
domestic market
Written by Ridley Bell
Mountain Blue Orchards
Lindendale, NSW.
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