By Kasey Cronquist
The blueberry industry created the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) 26 years ago with a simple but ambitious purpose: to grow the entire category.
USHBC exists to give more consumers in the United States more reasons to buy more blueberries, expand demand for U.S. blueberries in global markets and equip the industry for success. Ultimately, this work is about making bigger opportunities possible for growers to build the businesses, lives and legacies they want.
No other organization can do for the blueberry industry what USHBC can do. It brings the category together across regions, production windows and markets to accomplish more collectively than any one business or growing region could accomplish alone.
The goal is to grow the pie so individual slices have the potential to become bigger for everyone. That’s why USHBC’s work has never been more important than it is today.
The marketplace is filled with pressure. Current supply, combined with continued plantings domestically and globally, threaten to outpace demand. It is a tough time to be a grower, particularly in the United States. Labor costs remain high, labor availability is declining, input costs are rising, and investments in new varieties and technology are increasingly make-or-break decisions.
But the marketplace is also filled with promise.
Thanks to decades of USHBC marketing informed by health research, U.S. consumers know blueberries are good for them. And for the first time in modern history, they want — and expect — blueberries year-round.
Recent retail data provides encouraging evidence of the category’s strength. Blueberry volume and value continue to trend upward. Average retail pricing has also increased each year since 2023: from $5.01 per pound in 2023, to $5.08 in 2024, to $5.12 in 2025. Through 2026, the year-to-date average has reached $5.60 per pound, the highest in the four-year dataset.
Many forces influence those results, including weather, crop size and supply conditions. But taken together, the trends show that consumers continue to place meaningful value on blueberries as the category grows.
The next opportunity for blueberries is to build on the strong functional foundation of decades of health research work and move blueberries from a fruit consumers know is good for them to one they find truly desirable — a fruit they want more often, in more places and for more reasons.
That means reaching more households, while giving today’s buyers reasons to purchase blueberries more frequently. It means expanding beyond breakfast and familiar uses into more meals, snacks and eating occasions. It means encouraging consumers to enjoy blueberries as more than a topping or ingredient and making them a more substantial part of what they eat. It also means building demand across fresh and frozen, foodservice, ingredients and global markets.
Every new consumer, purchase, occasion and use expands the potential market for the supply that’s coming.
This work cannot be separated from production. Genetics, quality, data, supply-chain coordination, market access and demand creation must work together. As growers invest in producing a better blueberry, the industry must be equally focused on creating a valuable home for every berry.
USHBC was created to unite the industry around that shared responsibility. The ambition is not simply to compete for a larger share of the market that exists today. It’s to build a substantially larger market for blueberries.
With the recent continuance referendum complete, USHBC is moving forward decisively to serve the blueberry industry for another five years. That continuation comes with clear responsibilities: to remain accountable to the industry, build on the progress already underway and get to work on the opportunities ahead.
Making blueberries the world’s favorite fruit means more people, in more places, choosing blueberries more often. And it means creating greater opportunity for the growers whose businesses, families and legacies depend on the future we build together.
Kasey Cronquist is the president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council.