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 Brad Moorer, president and CEO of MBG Marketing. MBG Marketing is a producer-owned blueberry cooperative that was formed in 1936 as the Michigan Blueberry Growers Association. Moorer took over the president and CEO role from Larry Ensfield last May. Prior to that, he served as CFO and vice president of MBGs value-added business. This is the second part of the conversation between Cronquist and Moorer that took place in Michigan last month. 

“As I look to the future, I believe it's really around one thing and one thing only, and I think it's proprietary genetics” - Brad Moorer

“It's maybe 5% to 10% of our total production on an annual basis has got the legs for export. … There's a lot of other factors downstream, but it all begins at the field level and it's (the) varietal. And to the extent that we can plant another 10,000, 20,000 acres of these new genetics, it's only going to give us that many more opportunities to export, because some of this fruit that we're seeing is just phenomenal.” - Brad Moorer

Topics covered include: 

• Getting to know MBG Marketing and its contributions to the blueberry industry.
• The investments MBG Marketing has made into the Naturipe family of companies.
• The value of proprietary genetics and what MBG Marketing is doing with its Berry Blue program.

Crop Report

The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. In this episode, you’ll hear from Doug Krahmer in Oregon, Bryan Sakuma in Washington and Mario Ramirez in Mexico. This was recorded on August 10, 2022.

Blueberry Boost

This week’s Blueberry Boost highlights the 2021 USHBC Impact Report, which details last year’s efforts across all program areas. The report can be accessed here and in the USHBC Data and Insights Center, along with past reports.