Naturipe Farms ushers in a new era of berries with abundant supplies

Overview of blueberries in the U.S. market, complemented by charts from Agronometrics. Original published on January 24, 2024.

This February, Naturipe’s blueberry production is shifting into high gear. Naturipe is kicking off a new era of berries with its annual FeBLUEary campaign, highlighting the peak winter season for Naturipe’s conventional and organic blueberries. This new era is benchmarked by improved quality of berries, ramped-up innovation in breeding, growing and packaging, and increased prioritization of sustainability throughout the business. 

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

This FeBLUEary, peak supplies of berries will primarily come from Naturipe growers in Chile and will be supplemented by blueberries from Mexico and Peru. Regardless of their origin, this year’s blueberry crop has exceptional quality, thanks to Naturipe’s leadership in breeding and growing techniques. 

“Each year, we celebrate FeBLUEary to mark the first peak of Naturipe’s blueberry growing seasons,” said Jim Roberts, president of sales at Naturipe. “The heart-health benefits of blueberries are top of mind for people at the beginning of the year and our growers have worked to ensure that when shoppers head into their local grocery store, these delicious and good-for-you berries will be the best fresh fruit they’ll find. Retailers and consumers will be thrilled to celebrate FeBLUEary.”

As an added bonus to this berry-promotable month, retailers can also feature Naturipe strawberries, as they will be coming into promotable volumes of these delicious red berries a little early this year. Strawberries are synonymous with a favorite February holiday, Valentine’s Day, and retailers will be able to capitalize on the strong holiday demand for these berries.

FeBLUEary is an excellent opportunity for retailers to take advantage of the peak volumes of berries. Retailers can showcase these volumes with creative signage and blueberry displays and this year they can complement their displays with the addition of strawberries. To ramp up incremental sales of these shopper-favorite berries, Naturipe recommends that retailers activate friendly sales competitions between stores, and in-store recipe demos with recipe cards available for shoppers to take home. Additionally, retailers can promote FeBLUEary on their social media accounts. Consumers can expect to see plentiful and delicious berries at great prices, making it the perfect time to stock up and try out a new recipe (or two!) that features blueberries or strawberries as the main ingredient.

As the world’s largest grower of blueberries, Naturipe operates with the values of high-quality berries, innovative breeding and growing practices, and a commitment to sustainability in mind. FeBLUEary’s peak volumes and top quality are the result of the hard work and exceptional growing practices implemented by Naturipe’s growers. As part of the New Era of Berries, Naturipe looks forward to bringing more attention to the significant strides it has made in these areas. 

“We’ve been laying the foundation for the new era of berries for a long time, and FeBLUEary is the perfect way to formally kick off our efforts with the industry,” said Roberts. “The care that our growers put into their fresh fruit, combined with the commitment to breeding high-quality berries and introducing innovative sustainability practices, is what the new era of berries is all about.”

The News in Charts is a collection of stories from the industry complemented by charts from Agronometrics to help better tell their story.

Access the original article with this (Link)