Somerfield Farms increases blueberry acreage in Michigan

Somerfield Farms is a year-round berry grower and shipper, with blueberry farms throughout Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan. The company will be exhibiting at the upcoming CPMA show, meeting attendees at booth No. 2605.

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

“With CPMA being the beginning of the domestic North American blueberry season, we’re really just going to be promoting our blueberries,” said Lee Kimball, national sales director for the Wilmington, NC-based company. “We have some retail partners up in Canada and are looking to expand that footprint. This is an opportunity to get together with our current retail partners and grow some relationships up in Canada as well.”

A small group of three Somerfield Farms’ team members will be attending, and it’s set forth a strategy to ensure it has the conversations they need to grow the roots of their relationships.

The company has experienced tremendous growth lately, with some substantial acreage added in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan, as well as British Columbia.

For instance, in December, the company added to its already robust domestic blueberry production by partnering with Jawor Bros. Blueberry in Ravenna, MI, adding 825 acres of premium fresh Michigan blueberries to the marketplace starting in July of this year, and going through September.

“We have retailers that will stay in with us as long as we can produce the quality needed to meet customer expectations,” Kimball said. “This northern farm extends the window in which we can do that consistently. We do take pride in our ability to provide our customers with a consistent premium supply of U.S.-grown blueberries, including our jumbo pack from start to finish.”

The additional acreage will allow the company to provide a consistent and meaningful supply to a large percentage of its customers within 24-48 hours of picking the berries.

“Food miles are important with freight rates looking to be a major challenge this year,” Kimball said. “I think being able to keep some of these food miles down in the Central U.S., and maybe even hitting Canada, will be an asset to some retailers. The ability to have these blueberries in the middle of the U.S., to limit the transportation costs is something we’re really excited about.”

Over the years, as consumption has increased on the consumer-side of things, Somerfield Farms’ production capabilities and its abilities to maximize growth per acre in all regions has really increased.

“There’s been a large increase on the production side of things on the supply side, but it’s been matched fairly well with the consumption on the consumer side,” Kimball said. “I really see the volatile market swings of the increased demand from the import seasons —so with Peru and Chile and the emergence of Mexico, it’s really created some relatively new market windows. The supply chain is still learning these and adjusting.”

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

He noted that has created some challenges in understanding the market and setting the price point where the blueberries can move through the marketplace to consumers at the right place.

That’s one of the things he expects to be talking about at CPMA, and looks forward to hearing other opinions on what’s ahead.

Other topics he expects to be bandied about are inflation, what’s happening overseas, and the state of the world overall. He noted the company needs to focus on the things it can control — such as providing top-of-the-line blueberries.

“One thing we’ve learned is that Canadians as a whole love their fresh produce, and want high quality. That’s something that we offer consistently and pride ourselves on,” Kimball said. “We’re passionate about what we do. We love the blueberry industry, and love blueberries and CPMA gives us the chance to get more potential customers and we’ll take any opportunity to go out and talk about it.”

Somerfield Farms is looking forward to a strong domestic season out of Georgia and North Carolina leading into the summer and are excited about what’s to come.

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

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