How blueberry farming is evolving: three changes shaping modern production
Blueberries have moved from a regional specialty crop to a year-round global category. In the last decade, planted area and output have expanded quickly as new genetics, new regions, and new production systems reshaped what’s possible.
Industry reporting estimates global blueberry planted area at well over 235,000 hectares by 2021, and continuing upward to around the mid-280,000 hectares range by 2024, a scale that would have been difficult to imagine not long ago.
But as blueberries spread into more climates and soil types, the crop’s “rules” have not changed: blueberries remain highly sensitive to the root-zone environment and to heat stress, and they reward precision more than improvisation. From what I see with growers across regions, three changes stand out, each one aimed at gaining more control, reducing variability, and protecting fruit quality.
Why more growers are leaving soil behind
Blueberries perform best when the root zone stays acidic, typically below pH 5.5, and stable. That requirement is one of the reasons blueberry production historically clustered in areas with naturally suitable soils. Even when soil tests show an acceptable pH, the field reality can be very different: variability in structure, drainage, and organic matter can translate into uneven growth, uneven uptake, and uneven fruit Inconsistency in quantity and quality of fruit
That’s why more growers are shifting to soilless (substrate) cultivation, where the roots are disconnected from the native soil and managed inside containers. The practical advantage is control: growers can target the pH and EC they want at the root zone and keep it consistent across the substrate. That consistency matters in blueberries.
This shift is especially visible in fast-expanding regions. Industry and trade reporting repeatedly point to Peru and Mexico among the fastest movers toward container and substrate systems in berry crops. In Peru specifically, one industry report notes that substrate systems have grown from a small share of the area a decade ago to a meaningful portion today, and projects that most new plantings in the coming seasons will be substrate-based.
At ACP’s operation in Chepén, Peru, where the team has been growing blueberries for eight years across 1,400 hectares, the shift to soilless cultivation was driven by a clear operational priority: “The main reason was to optimize the better use of water resources, which can be managed more precisely in substrate systems.” ACP notes that day-to-day management changes as well, “the number of irrigation pulses per day increases in substrate to maintain moisture and nutrition in a controlled manner”, and links that approach to performance: “We have observed an improvement in yield and optimization of water resource use, positively impacting productivity.”
Soilless cultivation also changes the “design logic” of the farm. Irrigation and fertigation are no longer something you do to a field, they are something you do to a controlled root environment. The system has to be designed accordingly. When done well, the payoff is predictability: more uniform plant behavior, tighter control of inputs, and a production model that can succeed in places where soil would have been a limiting factor.
What heat does to blueberries, and how growers respond
Genetics has enabled blueberries to move into warmer areas via low-chill and no-chill varieties. That expansion has helped create more consistent global supply, but it comes with a reality check: being able to flower with fewer chill hours does not mean the plant is comfortable in extreme heat.
High temperatures can affect flowering, fruit set, berry firmness, and the plant’s ability to recover after harvest. In the field, heat stress is rarely a single dramatic moment, it’s often a sequence of hot days that push the plant out of balance at exactly the wrong time.
This is why “cooling the crop” has become a practical part of modern blueberry management in many warm regions. Cooling does not mean turning a field into an air-conditioned space. It means reducing heat load around the canopy during high-risk periods using evaporative approaches such as overhead cooling (sprinklers/fogging), under-canopy systems, or structure-level approaches, depending on the farm layout, humidity, and water quality.
The key point is that cooling can make a measurable difference. For example, Michigan State University reports that overhead irrigation used during hot conditions can reduce air temperature by about 5–10°F (roughly 3–6°C) in trials, helping keep conditions below damaging peaks. Washington State University Extension also frames evaporative (overhead) cooling as a viable adaptation strategy for extreme heat events in blueberries.
There is no single “best” method. The most effective approach depends on timing (pre-harvest vs. post-harvest), local humidity, and water quality. Sometimes, even partial relief is worth it, because in blueberries, avoiding the worst stress often protects the most value.
Better decisions, faster: the role of monitoring and automation
Growers everywhere are operating under tighter constraints: labor complexity, input costs, and the need to hit consistent quality targets. This is where digital tools are increasingly becoming part of the daily workflow. Monitoring root-zone moisture, EC, and local climate signals helps growers make better irrigation and fertigation decisions, not by replacing agronomy, but by improving visibility.
In blueberries, the most practical value of monitoring is decision support. One sensor does not represent a whole field, especially in large operations, but trends over time, paired with good agronomy, reduce guesswork. The goal is not “automation for its own sake.” The goal is earlier detection, tighter control of stress, and faster adjustments when conditions shift.
Looking ahead
Put these changes together and a clear direction appears: modern blueberry production is being built around control of the root zone, protection from heat, and better decision-making through data. Blueberries will continue to expand into new regions, but success will favor growers who design their systems for consistency and flexibility, so they can protect fruit quality when conditions are less forgiving.
As an agronomist, I see these changes as practical responses to what growers are living with right now: more variability, higher expectations, and less room for error. The farms that perform best are the ones that treat precision not as a slogan, but as an operating discipline.
Comments
We'd love to hear your thoughts! To enter a comment, type your name and email address.