In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Josh Miers-Jones and James French of TOMRA. Miers-Jones is the global category director for blueberries at TOMRA, and French is the company’s head of innovation. Together, they discuss the latest technology, their approach to innovation, and the role of data and artificial intelligence in the future of blueberries.

“You have to be able to pay attention to each individual berry to maximize the value of what you're looking at because you can have one bad berry in that package and that might spoil that experience for the consumer.” James French

“Where can you be more efficient? Where can you save labor? Where can you maybe unlock other ways of doing business that you haven't in the past? Can you enable machine harvest for fresh by doing things a particular way and look for those really value-add type transformations in business by using technology in the right way?” - Josh Miers-Jones

Topics covered include: 

• An overview of TOMRA’s business and what led them to blueberries.
• The important role data can play in personalizing the blueberry experience for individual consumers. 
• How advancements in artificial intelligence technology can unlock new value opportunities for the blueberry industry. 
• The new technology TOMRA plans to showcase at The Blueberry Convention in February. 

We look forward to seeing you at The Blueberry Convention in San Diego Feb. 21-24!

Crop Report

The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. Today you’ll hear from Luis Vegas in Peru and Mario Ramirez in Mexico. This was recorded on January 6, 2023.