- Traditional planting sites are on low-lying areas with poor natural soil drainage. Revision and maintenance of an irrigation system costs an estimated $1,100 per acre, according to a 2005 cost analysis by the Mississippi State Budget Generator 6.0. The ideal plant size and acreage of land for planting land is 3 by 10 feet on 20 acres. In most cases, the land requires draining and tilling before it is ready for operation, costing roughly $500 per acre. Well-drained land with good quality soil should produce for upwards of 25 years.
- Machine-harvested berries usually all go to a processing plant for packaging and sales. About 90 percent of hand-picked berries sell at the fresh market, and only 10 percent of the total harvest is machine harvested. Mature yield for hand-harvested berries is roughly 18,000 lbs. annually, while machine-harvested crops yield roughly 16,000 lbs. per year.
- Labor and cash flow play significant roles in establishing a new blueberry enterprise. In actuality, cash-flow expenses cover labor, fuel, capital asset purchases and fertilizer -- factors considered separate from the profitability of a planting. Standard value for labor in Oregon state is minimum wage plus roughly $2.50 per hour. Other costs include pickup trucks operating at about $135 per acre every year, as well as bookkeeping and office supplies at about $20 per acre.
- The total U.S. production of blueberries topped out at around 360,000 total lbs. for the year 2007, according to an independent survey. Of that total, the amount of blueberries used in fresh markets was around 146,000 lbs. by years end. In Willamette Valley, Oregon, in the years between 1990 and 2003, blueberry production saw a nearly 110 percent growth in planted crops -- almost a 40-cent increase in price per pound. In 2008, prices were trending downward in commercial markets such as Florida, where the price dropped from $8 to $6.50 per pound.
previous post
next post