In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC) is joined by Kevin Hamilton, USHBC’s vice president of communications and marketing, and Haiying Zhang, USHBC’s director of global business development. Zhang previously represented growers and stakeholders in the U.S. pistachio industry. As senior director of global marketing, she was responsible for executing marketing programs and budgeting in export markets, supervising public relations firms and overseeing USDA grant programs.

“If you look at what is global business development, it really is a process of identifying and pursuing opportunities, with the goal to expand the operations or your reach in new international markets. And so at USHBC, my role is really … to expand the global trade for blueberries by increasing consumption in international markets.” – Haiying Zhang

Topics covered include:

• An introduction to Zhang and her role with USHBC.
• Details on the Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP) funding USHBC has been awarded to support next year’s market expansion.
• The opportunities USHBC representatives discovered at this year’s Asia Fruit Logistica conference.
• How to connect with Zhang (hzhang@blueberry.org) to get involved in the global market expansion for blueberries

Crop Report

The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. Today you’ll hear from Andres Armstrong in Chile and Luis Vegas in Peru. This was recorded on October 17, 2024.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by April Stull, Ph.D. RDN, associate professor of nutrition sciences in the Department of Human Sciences and Design at Baylor University, and Leslie Wada, Ph.D., senior director of nutrition and health research at USHBC. Stull's work has furthered the reputation of and appreciation for the health benefits of blueberries, and USHBC’s health research program. Stull also authored a paper outlining the health benefits of blueberries, and she and Wada discuss the findings and impact this research can have.

“I'm particularly excited about investigating the health benefits of blueberries across different populations and their role in meeting nutritional needs throughout the lifecycle. So this includes studying their impact on children, older adults, underserved populations and individuals from various racial and ethnic backgrounds.” – April Stull, Ph.D., RDN

Topics covered include:

• An introduction to Stull and her work.
• A discussion of her recently published research paper which highlights the impact of blueberries on overall health outcomes.
• An exploration of proposed future research projects that would continue to investigate the many health benefits of blueberries.

For more information, see additional research by Dr. Stull on blueberries and endothelial function and blueberries and insulin sensitivity.

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. This was recorded on October 3, 2024.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” you’ll hear a live recording of U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and North American Blueberry Council (NABC) President Kasey Cronquist’s keynote address to the blueberry industry, which was recorded live at the 2024 Blueberry Summit in Denver. He was joined by Brad Moorer, CEO of MBG Marketing, blueberry grower Michael Hill and USHBC Chair Shelly Hartmann. Cronquist and his guests discuss the value of continued investment in the USHBC and the industry’s potential expansion.

“You have the USHBC … where you can collectively bring everybody together to pull the biggest lever that you have to bring consumers back to the category or to the category for the first time in such a way that helps lift demand. And that helps everybody. And that's why USHBC got started in the first place: There was vision in what was going to need to happen in order to handle the circumstances. And, today, we're in different circumstances. We're at a crossroad.” – Kasey Cronquist

Topics covered include:

• The need for an increased assessment for the blueberry industry.
• The industry’s perspective on what it will take to continue to expand blueberry demand globally, and the best strategy to accomplish this task.
• A grower's perspective on the proposed increased assessment, and the need this investment meets for producers in the industry.
• The goals of the USHBC, what an increased assessment will provide for the organization, and how an increased assessment will help USHBC better support blueberry producers.