Curry & Company Announces Early Start to Oregon Blueberries
BROOKS, OR - Oregon blueberries are off to an early start this season, and for the second year in a row. The harvest kicked off in Oregon’s Willamette Valley with the popular Duke variety. So, what propelled the season to start ahead of schedule? According to Curry & Co., a warm spring combined with ideal growing conditions which puts estimates for promotional volume availability beginning the week of June 13th. The company’s season will continue until September.
“We are alerting all of our blueberry partners to be ready to start promoting when the season begins,” President Matt Curry, said. “There is a great crop on the bushes and we’re excited for the season.”
The company’s blueberries are packed and shipped from its warehouse in Brooks, Oregon and from their Los Angeles, California, warehouse. Curry & Company will be packing primarily in 6 oz, pint, 18 oz and 2# clamshells during peak season, with the larger size packages available from the first day of the season until volumes start slowing down in late July. Around this time, production will focus on the 6 oz clamshell, according to the release.
Also accompanying the Oregon blueberry season this year, is Curry & Company’s successful “local” program, which they launched in 2015 to the Pacific Northwest. Featured in this program are a rotating set of labels focused on local that are highlighted on clamshells.
“The Northwest retailers really liked our local program,” Curry added. “It gave them a great opportunity to celebrate and promote one of the delicious produce items that is grown in their back yard. We were even able to have a grower go out to some stores to help demo product.”
Along with Curry & Company’s growing domestic operations is the growth in the company’s export program which is experiencing storing demand. Export Director, Boriz Manz, said, “We had a strong Chilean blueberry season, and the momentum is carrying over to our domestic product. The outstanding growing season and the anticipated larger than normal volumes and large-sized blueberries are creating a lot of excitement.”
In addition to Oregon’s status as being one of the largest blueberry producing states in the U.S. and the largest producing state on the West Coast, according to the company, other key regions that include Michigan, New Jersey, Georgia, California, and Washington.
