Progress in Breeding Highbush Blueberry Cultivars Adapted to Machine Harvest for the Fresh Market

Highbush blueberry production, including northern highbush (Vaccinium corymbosum), southern highbush (V. corymbosum hybrids), and rabbiteye (V. virgatum), that is destined for the processed market is largely machine-harvested.  Over the last five years, processed highbush blueberry production has accounted for less than 40% of the total world production.  The remaining fruit harvested for fresh consumption has remained largely hand-harvested.  As worldwide production of highbush blueberries surpassed 1 billion pounds in 2012, increasing concerns about labor availability and higher production costs have led to increasing utilization of machine harvest for fresh (MFF) market production.  Until recently, only rabbiteye blueberries have had a high percentage of fresh production picked as MFF.  A sequential harvest strategy where high-value early season fruit are hand harvested and later maturing fruit are machine harvested, has most often been adopted for northern and southern highbush producers using existing cultivars and harvest equipment.  However, to truly facilitate MFF, new blueberry cultivars need to be developed.  Bush architecture, easy detachment of mature berries compared to immature berries, loose fruit clusters, small, dry stem scar, firm fruit, and a concentrated ripening period are breeding goals to develop blueberry cultivars amenable to machine harvest.