In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council, is joined by Dennis Tootelian, Ph.D., an emeritus professor of marketing in the College of Business at California State University, Sacramento. Tootelian is also a nationally recognized expert in economic impact research for agriculture, with two landmark studies quantifying the U.S. highbush blueberry industry’s multi-billion dollar economic contribution. With decades of experience advising commodity groups, he brings deep insight into how data drives industry growth and advocacy.

“ So, growers had a huge impact nationally. Those were the numbers, but this occurred in each of the eight states that we looked at, millions, hundreds of millions of dollars in activity. Thousands of jobs created. Hundreds of millions in spending as a result of labor income, millions in taxes that get to be used …  Blueberry growers and importers spent about $3.6 billion in an average year, 10 million a day, roughly, and that's a lot of money to be spending, and it resulted in an economic impact of little over $9 billion, or about $25 million every day of every year.” – Dennis Tootelian, Ph.D.

Topics covered include:

• An introduction to Tootelian and his research.
• An explanation of the macro-economic impacts of the blueberry industry and how they are measured.
• A deep dive into the data generated by Tootelian’s research, and what the data shows policymakers about the impact of the blueberry industry.

Crop Report

The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. Today you’ll hear from TJ Hafner in Oregon, Sunny Brar in British Columbia, Alan Schreiber in Washington, Pat Goin in Indiana and Luis Vegas in Peru. This was recorded on July 17, 2025.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Steve Mantle, founder and CEO of Innov8.ag. Mantle and his team have been working closely with USHBC to transform high-tech field data into actionable insights. With test fields already established, Mantle is here to share where we are today, where we’re headed and why the BerrySmart Fields program is just getting started. He dives into the intersection of technology and agriculture – specifically, how we’re improving our ability to forecast yield using data-informed decisions across the blueberry supply chain.

“ Our work is focused on validating a smart farm network that enables blueberry growers, packers, marketers, stakeholders, sales tech and research to collaborate on farm operation optimization. So everything from what tech to be using, how to use it, to the bigger picture of how do we unlock data insights across the blueberry industry in ways that help the whole blueberry value chain grow and thrive into the future.” – Steve Mantle

Topics covered include:

• An introduction to Steve Mantle and his work.
• The purpose and impact of the BerrySmart Fields, and what it offers to all stakeholders in the blueberry supply chain.
• What the future holds for the BerrySmart team, and the innovations they’re evaluating and sharing with the industry.
• How to learn more at The Blueberry Convention 2025. We hope to see you there!

Crop Report

The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. Today you’ll hear from Alan Schreiber in Washington, TJ Hafner in Oregon, Brody Schropp in Michigan, Matt Macrie in New Jersey and Sunny Brar in British Columbia. This was recorded on July 10, 2025.

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Ken Gilliam, vice president of predictive analysis at The Directions Group, and Cassidy Marn, account executive at The Directions Group. Together, Gilliam and Marn turn insights into real-world game plans, get teams on board and help teams move in the right direction to drive impactful decisions across organizations. Currently, they’re assisting USHBC with a survey related to its 2026-2030 strategic plan.

“ You need data to make a better decision about what your next strategy is, and that survey is one of the primary tools that we use to inform the data stack that we need to find the issues that are most relevant to USHBC and the rest of the council.” – Ken Gilliam

Topics covered include:

• An introduction to The Directions Group and the history of the organization.
• A discussion about the USHBC survey and why it’s so crucial for blueberry stakeholders to participate. (You can participate now here!)
• The topics and questions included in this year’s survey.
• How The Directions Group separates itself from other groups to reach a broader audience.

Check out the “Farmer of the Future 2.0” report by The Direction's Group, a foundational study and audience segmentation of U.S. farmers that changed the way many organizations had previously approached the market.

Crop Report

The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. Today you’ll hear from Mario Ramirez in Mexico,

Michelle Borges in California, Sunny Brar in British Columbia and Brody Schropp in Michigan. This was recorded on July 3, 2025.