Blueberry Industry Delegation Visits Japan

The Business of Blueberries

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Josh Scheel of Scenic Fruit Company, Bryan Sakuma of Sakuma Brothers, Amy Nguyen of Dragonberry Produce, Todd Sanders of the California Blueberry Commission and Renata Dalton, USHBC director of business development. This esteemed group of industry leaders shares insights into the Japanese market for blueberries, and what Japanese consumers are looking for in a blueberry product. We also explore what exporters can expect and look for in partnering with Japanese distributors, and where producers can go to start developing connections and pathways into the Japanese blueberry market.

“You'll notice almost everything food related here has a very high attention to detail. …So with that, they expect very high-quality produce and blueberries, especially when you talk to buyers over here. They want to know variety. They want to know size. They want to know brix levels, pH, different things like that. So if you can really play up to that part and that strength of your crop and your processing methods, there's ways to have success here.” - Josh Scheel

Topics covered include:

• An introduction to the podcast’s participants.
• An exploration of the current Japanese blueberry market and a look at the potential for American growers.
• Discussion of the path to building exporting partnerships with Japanese blueberry distributors for American producers.

Crop Report

The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. Today you’ll hear from Elise Oliver in California, TJ Hafner in Oregon, Alan Schreiber in Washington, Pat Goin in Indiana, Matt Macrie in New Jersey and Derrin Wheeler in Georgia. This was recorded on June 21, 2023.