Tag: Chile

The world is a much smaller place than when I was at school.  I barely knew where Chile and New Zealand were, never mind ever seeing fruit grown there for sale in my local shop in Germany.

Yet here I am in a warehouse in Rotterdam, taking photos of southern hemisphere kiwifruit as spotted by the IFPS Board member for Chile, Tom Tjerandsen!

It’s a small world indeed…

TV1 News had an item on the Blueberry Harvest last night, there being very little else to report other than the road toll.  Now if there is one niche crop in this country that  should be relatively happy with itself, then it ought to be Blueberries.  I am not an authoritative Blueberry expert, so I will not quote detailed data – but

• local Blueberry consumption is increasing at a rate of knots
• export markets exist and and have the ability to absorb more fruit
• Blueberries are being  linked to a variety of well being and health enhancing properties with the science community actually supporting any marketing message growers care to develop.

But what happens?  The Blueberry grower interviewed in the news item chooses to focus on a dooms day scenario and expresses his fears of being wiped out “next year” by cheap Chilean imports.  Give me strength!

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