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After 100 Years Of Blueberries, Indiana Is A Major Producer

By Network Indiana

Posted July 2, 2016

Baskets of blueberries in a market.

One hundred years ago this summer, the first commercial crop of blueberries was harvested and sold.

Since then, production has skyrocketed. By 2017, global production is projected to surpass 1.5 billion pounds.

"We're produced in 38 states, but 98 percent of the production comes from 10 states, and Indiana is one of those 10," says Mark Villata, Executive Director for the Blueberry Council.

And the nearly billion dollar industry in the United States is a boost to local economies as well.

"Blueberries generate a lot of assistance to the local economy with all of the work that goes into producing them, and of course harvesting them," Villata says. "On the fresh side of the business, most all of our blueberries are hand-harvested, so it's a very labor intensive crop."

Villata says as more people realize the lifestyle benefits of these little blue dynamos, consumption continues to grow.

"We call them 'little blue dynamos' for a lot of reasons, taste and convenience, and health is also a big one," Villata says.

In the last 5 years, per capita consumption in North America has grown 47 percent. North America is the top producing continent of the fruit, with 750.2 million pounds of blueberries produced in 2015. The continent is projected to produce 940 million pounds in 2019.

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