"The Peak of the Southern region blueberry harvest is set to start next week," Littler reported Jan. 11. "From then onwards the harvest should be continuous and uninterrupted. Temperatures are expected to over 30 degrees, which will see maturation accelerate. It seems as though the rains are over now, which coupled with the normalisation of working hours after the end of the Christmas holidays, should ensure no more interruptions and a dramatic change to what, up to now, has been a below average season."
"Weather issues have led to problems for the Chilean blueberrydeal in 2012-13, with a freeze in the spring and unexpected rains from Santiago heading south," countered Freshfruitportal.com in an unsigned update Jan. 22. "While quality could pick up dramatically in February, to date it has been average. The message from many is that as these weather problems won't go away, farmers have the opportunity to harness the tools available to move the category ahead." The website quoted representatives from Fall Creek, Dole Berry Company, Carsol Fruit, Naturipe Farms and Berry Fresh to hear more about this complicated year.
"This is a hard year because we had a tough freeze in the south which is bizarre, and even stranger is having rains in places like Chillan in the middle of the season," said Fall Creek's farm and nursery manager Cort Brazelton, "Hearing there were rains in Chillan right before the main harvest was just shocking, because usually the one thing you can rely on is not having rain in the summer in the central and central-southern regions of the country. But the reality is, I can't remember a completely normal year in the last five years anywhere in the world, so there isn't a normal anymore."
"These extreme weather events are becoming more frequent so the ideal production zone does not exist," agreed Carsol Fruit General Manager Patricio Tellechea. "We are always fighting the weather with a product that suffers stress, and we still don't have the best conditions for harvesting, packing or transport that help the product." Tellechea adds that the combination of random weather and supply chain inefficiencies means the industry is just sending a 'regular' product, when it could be sending a 'product of excellence'.
Still, Littler was accentuating the posiitive. "Rabbiteye varieties are coming into line in the South Central areas, as Legacy and Brigitta start in the South - all varieties associated with abundance," he reported. "The first week of January saw exports of 6,472 tons, bringing the current total up to 38,300 tons, which is equal to 48% of the 79,300 ton total that is expected for the season overall. Shipments are still down by about 4% on the typical year, but the gap is now narrowing. In a week or two. exports are anticipated to reach 7,000 tons."
