OSU BLUEBERRY SCHOOL March 16-17, 2015 held at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon

Transcription

1

2

3 OSU BLUEBERRY SCHOOL March 16-17, 2015 held at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon This two-day blueberry school was organized for new and experienced blueberry growers, farm managers, crew leaders, advisors, packers/shippers, and consultants. Experts from Oregon State University, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Washington State University, and the blueberry industry were asked to address key issues of where the blueberry market is going; how you might be more successful in tight labor or volume markets; which cultivars are easiest to grow and are in most demand; how to establish new acreage using cutting-edge methods; projected costs and the resources available to growers for selecting new planting sites; how to best manage existing acreage to maximize returns of high-quality fruit; provide basic information on blueberry plant physiology to help growers minimize environmental stresses and improve yield potential; nutrient management programs for optimal growth and quality; irrigation and fertigation practices for higher quality and better efficiency; use of organic amendments and mulches; planning for and improving machine harvest efficiency; pruning for hand or machine harvest (where can you cut corners.or not), maximizing pollination for good fruit and seed set; overviews of the most important blueberry viruses, diseases, insects, weeds, and vertebrate pests; and tools for good pest management. Information throughout the program addresses the needs of conventional, transitional, and organic growers. Simultaneous interpretation to Spanish has been provided. This proceedings book contains information provided on these topics by each speaker and co-authors. The thumb drive provided in the registration packet for each attendee includes a copy of each presentation. Thank you for attending. It is our sincere wish that this will be a very useful meeting and that you find the accompanying materials a valuable reference! Bernadine Strik, Professor and Extension Berry Crops Specialist, OSU and the members of the organizing committee Organizing Committee Bernadine Strik, Chair, Oregon State University (OSU) Wei Yang, OSU. Co-chair (sponsorship coordinator), OSU Donna Williams, Rachel Williams & team at OSU Conference Services Dave Bryla, USDA-ARS HCRU Chad Finn, USDA-ARS HCRU Vaughn Walton - OSU Steve Castagnoli - OSU Steve Renquist - OSU Bryan Ostlund Oregon Blueberry Commission Eric Pond - industry Jon Umble industry Derek Peacock - industry Steve Erickson - industry Nancy Jensen - industry i

4 Table of Contents OSU Blueberry School Title Authors Page Characteristics of production regions in the Pacific Northwest Markets - what's the future for fresh, processed, and organic markets? Things you MUST think about before starting or expanding production Lisa DeVetter, Pat Jones, Bernadine Strik, Kathie Dello Rod Cook, Derek Peacock, Jeff Malensky, David Granatstein 1 9 Cultivar choices- Tried and true to brand new Chad Finn and Bernadine Strik 15 Economics of production resources Bernadine Strik and David Granatstein 29 Resources available for selecting a good blueberry site Wei Q. Yang 37 Site selection and establishment of a blueberry field Wei Q. Yang and Bernadine Strik 41 Organic soil amendments and mulches for blueberry: the good, the bad and the ugly Dan Sullivan (OSU) 47 On-farm irrigation system design and operation David Bryla 53 Blueberry plant physiology - why it's important to understand the plant to manage it well Bernadine Strik 57 Irrigation scheduling: when, where, and how much? David Bryla 63 Pruning - impact of plant age, cultivar, and harvest method Bernadine Strik 69 Harvesting - hand vs. machine Bernadine Strik (moderator); Paul Norris (Norris Farms); Frank Brown (Littau Harvesters (Inc.); Doug Krahmer (Berries Northwest) 75 Nutrient management of blueberry -- assessing plant nutrient needs and designing good fertilizer programs Bernadine Strik and David Bryla 79 Maximizing pollination in blueberry Ramesh Sagili, Carolyn Breece, John Borden 95 Blueberry viruses present in the Pacific Northwest and suggestions for their management Robert Martin 99 Blueberry bacterial and fungal diseases Jay Pscheidt and Jerry Weiland 107 ii

5 Title Authors Page Weed management for blueberry fields in the Pacific Northwest Getting hit high and low: Options for managing bird and vole damage Tim Miller 115 Dana Sanchez (OSU 125 Management of arthropods, insect, and plant-parasitic nematodes in blueberries Vaughn Walton,Nik Wiman, Inga Zasada, Joe DeFrancesco, Daniel Dalton, Amy Dreves, Jana Lee, Lynell Tanigoshi, Wei Yang 129 iii

6 Marketing What s the Future for Fresh, Processed, and Organic Markets? Things You MUST Think About Before Starting or Expanding Production Rod Cook 1, Derek Peacock 2, Jeff Malensky 3, David Granatstein 4 1 Overview & moderator; Ag-View Consulting Inc. 2 Derek Peacock, HBF, Inc., Sheridan, Oregon 3 Jeff Malensky, Oregon Berry Packers, Hillsboro, Oregon 4 David Granatstein, Washington State University Breaking news in the blueberry industry: Production is going up! No, this really isn t new information, but the consistency with which this news has been reported should provide us all with some somber moments as we contemplate our own further expansion or indeed, investing in new production. As growers we are optimists in a perverse way. We are confident we can do better than our neighbors and we often even root for their weather issues so that we can be the market winner. Folks, I have to advise you that that is no market strategy. So this section of the Oregon Blueberry School is hopefully the dose of reality you need to listen to even as you are hoping for freezes and droughts and pestilence on your blueberry brethren. Production increased in North America from million pounds to million in the last two years. That is nearly 20% growth in fruit production, and yet some of the areas have had production issues the last two years due to weather so we really haven t seen a year where all of the key areas have maximized their production. North America isn t the only production area that is growing. Currently South America is the next largest production area with Chile being the number one producer. Their planting rate has actually exceeded the North American rate and now there are substantial plantings on all continents with the possible exclusion of Antarctica. So why are we here, essentially promoting plantings? The answer lays in the fact that at the same time as production is exploding, so is world interest in blueberries. Consumers have heard the research presentations about how healthy blueberries are and they believe. They have converted that belief into dollars and are buying more berries at increasing levels. And this is not simply a North American phenomenon, it is a world phenomenon. The most recent data, which is a couple of years old, shows that world consumption has effectively doubled between 2010 and Evidence suggests that this growth in consumption has continued unabated. So how do you make your farm successful? First you must develop a marketing plan: Prior to planting your first blueberry, you need to do a competitive analysis of your location and farm skills. This involves understanding what are your farm s and your competitive advantages and what are the weaknesses. This could include location, if that is something that hasn t been determined, marketers in your area, logistics available to you and so on. 9

7 The following segments should provide some more specific information and insights on three main categories; fresh, process and organic and help you develop a meaningful plan for your fruit. Trends and Opportunities with Organic Blueberries David Granatstein, Washington State University The organic food market continues to grow in the U.S. and Europe, and interest is increasing in China and other potential markets. Retail sales of organic foods in the U.S. grew 11% in 2013 over the previous year, with fruits and vegetables up 15% and comprising 33% of all organic sales. Given the health interests of most organic consumers, an organic blueberry brings attributes from the nutraceutical world as well as the perceived health benefits of organic foods. Not surprisingly, production and sales of organic blueberries have been expanding. Comprehensive data on organic blueberry acreage, production, and sales are absent or spotty at best. In 2013, Washington, Oregon, and California appeared to provide the bulk of organic blueberries in the U.S. Earlier data (2008) had shown substantial acreage in Georgia and Florida. Using Washington as an example of acreage trends, since reliable data are available, the area of all blueberries expanded 30% per year from 2004 to 2013, reaching ~9,000 acres. The area of certified organic blueberries expanded at 62% per year during the same period, reaching, 1,447 acres, which represented about 16% of all blueberries. One source estimated that 90% of organic blueberry acres are in eastern Washington, and that organic blueberry volume was <1 million lb 6 years ago, and is now near 15 million lb. This person expected organic acreage to increase 20% annually for the foreseeable future. Some industry sources estimated there will be 4,000-5,000 acres of certified organic blueberries in Washington and Oregon within the next five years. California experienced even more rapid growth of organic blueberry acres, reaching 1180 acres in Data on organic blueberry acres in Chile, an important exporter, were not available. Based on USDA-AMS data, shipments of fresh organic blueberries in Washington and California grew at a faster rate than their conventional blueberries from 2011 to In 2013, 32% of reported fresh shipments from the two states were organic, compared to 8% of all domestic fresh shipments being organic that year. About 10% of all fresh imported blueberries shipped in the U.S. were organic, with most all coming from Chile. The percent of all fresh blueberries shipped in the U.S. (domestic plus import) that were organic rose from 0.5% in 2008 to 4.4% in Clearly, the presence of organic blueberries in the fresh market has expanded dramatically and is expected to continue. No similar data are available for frozen or other processed organic blueberry products, but industry sources indicate that demand is strong and supply often cannot keep up with it. While about 50% of blueberries in North America go to the fresh market, one source thought that organic was closer to 75% fresh. One source indicated that 10-15% of Chilean blueberry exports are organic. Some price data on organic blueberries are available from USDA-AMS and other sources. In 2013, the average retail price for pints of fresh, U.S. produced organic blueberries was 25% above conventional, and this rose to a 50% premium in Retail price premiums for organic in 2014 ranged from 21-50% depending on the package size. In 2014, shipping point price premiums for fresh organic blueberries were 27% in California, and 35% in Oregon and 10

8 Washington. Industry sources indicated that recent prices for organic freezer blueberries has been twice or more those for conventional berries. Growers contemplating entry into organic blueberry production need to consider several things. What are the anticipated increases in costs they might experience? Will there be yield reductions (this may vary with the climate)? Will anticipated prices be likely to cover any increased costs and reduced yields? Are there ready markets for the volume they might produce? To sell into commercial markets, product must be certified organic, which entails going through the certification process. This requires time and involves fees. And for growers not inclined towards regulatory detail and recordkeeping, organic may not be a good fit. However, the audit system created as part of organic certification can position a farm for more easily addressing food safety audits. Information sources on organic production and problems are fewer and the range of tools available is smaller. Growers need to be pro-active in their management and prevent as many problems as possible, rather than allowing them to occur and then reaching for a tool or product to solve them. There is often a biological transition that occurs when entering organic production, involving changes in the soil nutrient cycling, and likely changes in pest and weed problems. Often secondary pests will decrease while control of primary pests may be more difficult. A comparison of conventional and organic blueberry production in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, found that organic had about 10% greater total costs than conventional from establishment to 7 years after establishment at full production. Based on this analysis, it took 11 years for conventional hand harvest to reach break-even, but only 8 years for organic. Thus, organic production may be a strategy to increase profitability and insulate against a market glut which may appear earlier in the conventional market. Trends and Opportunities with Processed Blueberries Jeff Malensky, Oregon Berry Packers Unless you are planning on doing your own marketing of fruit, which is increasingly uncommon, you need to find which marketers work with which processors/packers in your chosen production area. Each packer has a pretty defined set of requirements based upon their customers. As a result they may have very specific varieties that they need and varieties that they won t accept. They will have specific quality standards that they will pack to which may mean more or less sort outs from your fruit. In addition, they may have specific handling requirements that will require the type of containers that they will accept at their receiving locations. Knowing all of these things prior to planting can mean the difference between having good access to markets or not. Of course probably the most critical issue is knowing how the various packers pay for the fruit. Not only is this important to you, but if it may be very important to your banker! There is no real standard system in the Northwest although it is common to have some advance that is paid near the time that you deliver your fruit. From there some companies may provide additional payments throughout the summer or they may not begin payments until the fall or they may make some single final payment later in the year. Obviously this all affects your cash flow and you clearly want to fully understand how they pay and you may even want to see details on how they have paid the last few years. 11

9 Payment also involves understanding if or how the packer docks your payment based upon quality. Are their fixed standards, where and when do these inspections take place. The more transparent the operation the better you will understand how to grow your fruit most effectively in the future. Along with all of these nuts and bolt issues are the greater issues involving the basics of growing a crop that is even acceptable to the packer. Increasingly the industry standards are that you must be growing with Good Agricultural Practices. However it is not sufficient to simply grow according to these standards, you need to have third party audits. Which auditing organization will your packer require? A simple GAP audit is one thing but Global GAP is quite another. It requires significant documentation, a history of the fields, noting each and every cultural practice performed and tracking everything that you do on the farm. These audits add considerable labor and cost to any operation. Of course you need to have full documentation on chemical applications and prior to application you may need to know if your marketer is planning on exporting your fruit and if so where is it going. This is due to the fact that many countries have different standards for chemical application than the US. This may mean some approved materials are not allowed to be used and some uses may have significant limitations verse what is approved within the US. A significant issue for all blueberry growers is how are you going to control or how are you controlling Spotted Wing Drosphila? Management of this pest is one of the biggest challenges you will face and you better have a good management plan or your fruit will simply not be marketable. Processed fruit from the Northwest is primarily destined for the US and Canada but a significant amount is exported and the target is mostly Asia. However several of the Asian countries have great variation in what is acceptable so simply knowing that your fruit will be exported is not enough. As far as market today, the outlook is dependent upon what market your fruit fits into. Grade A Large fruit continues to look very positive as grocery movement of poly bagged blueberries boomed. On the other hand, Grade A Small markets today are more difficult to forecast. Often when the Low Bush industry crops struggles we can see good movement of smaller highbush fruit as customers try to substitute one fruit for the other. This year the Low Bush industry had a large crop and as a result our current markets don t appear to be a good as they have been the last few years. Trends and Opportunities with Fresh Blueberries Derek Peacock, HBF International Consumer demands, expectations of the market place and quality specs are the driving force behind berry movement. Growers need to know what their packer / marketer needs as retailers are becoming more advanced and demanding. Bigger retailers see the industry has matured, and higher volumes are there so they can be more picky. There are more suppliers in multiple 12

10 regions so buyers have more options. Retailers are looking for repeat sales business which is driven by a good consumer experience. They are starting to differentiate both different grower regions and programs within those areas. The quality traits asked for most from retailers is nice size fruit, with good taste and having a long shelf life. Taste is becoming more and more important (which is why we still like Liberty). But during seasonal periods of low volume and less competition sometimes specs ebb and flow to allow some exceptions such as a smaller size or less desirable flavor profile (i.e. small tart Elliotts). Adding to the confusion is what retailers and consumers want can and does change. Demands of customers change. Demands for different varieties create change. What a grower may have sold or supplied in the past may not work tomorrow as old standards give way to new ones. The type of grower a marketer is looking for is one that believes in the marketing company s program that they are supplying and recognizes their needs, creating either a formal or informal partnership. An example of this is the current push for food safety programs and third party audits. A good grower knows why that is so important, follows the rules to the best of their ability, and just doesn t go through the motions. They really believe and try to mitigate risk. Marketers need growers that they can rely on. They need to have a grower that has an attitude toward cooperation and looks at the relationship as critical to the success of both parties. A packing house needs predictable yields of large lots, consistency, and high quality to create efficiency and put out a lower cost product. Growers need to ask questions of their buyer on how to best supply this type of fruit. What sprays are needed or should be avoided and gives full support of the marketing program. A good grower understands ups and downs of market and looks at the big picture. It s critical for growers to have good ethical practices; growers that treat workers right, take care of the people we like growers that have compassion toward their pickers. Social responsibilities are becoming a bigger and bigger issue all of the time. Avoiding black marks on the industry from poor practices or decision making is critical for the success of the grower, marketer and industry. Participation and following of the activities of both their local (i.e. Oregon Blueberry Commission) and national commodity commission (USHBC) is important to understand the big picture and understand how it relates to them. There are many exciting future opportunities for the Fresh Market Blueberry Industry. But as blueberries become a more mature commodity a Grower needs to be good at what he does. The key is production. How productive you are translates to profitability. A successful grower will have the ability to be a high quality low cost producer. Obtaining maximum yield with the same amount of work (tractor set up, passes through the field, etc.). Using efficiencies of scale, then managing for high vigor bushes with large volumes of high quality fruit is better. A grower needs a firm grasp of the technical side understanding how to achieve maximum results Having the right technology to make good farming decisions. In addition, have a great relationship with a consistent crew one that listens and understands the why of what is needed to be done. Economic Units are getting bigger. A decade ago 5 10 acres used to be a large blueberry operation, now acres seems to be more of the norm, with multiple 100 acre plus ranches and even a few working acre fields. The future is probably more and more one of a steadier market with less wild fluctuations of pricing ups and downs. Successful Fresh Companies may tend to favor having a year-long supply of multiple (berry) commodities creating a one-stop shop. But there are exceptions, 13

11 driven by exceptional quality and label tradition. Retailers are placing more and more requirements upon their vendors, including traceability, third party food safety audits and even corporate social responsibility audits. Special packaging, date coding and product labeling needs. Weights and measure, pesticide use, temperature control / chain monitoring, foreign matter prevention procedures. Even all the way down to the type of pallet needed to be used can be dictated. These requirements can be always changing making the whole process harder to follow. Documentation is key. A good grower and packer write down a lot of information. Its one of the few ways we can prove things are being done correctly. Risk Management will also be stressed. Good quality fruit, following the advice of your marketer and luck will help the movement of your fruit, giving you a home for it and hopefully at a profitable outcome. 14