‘Excellent size’: UK blueberry crop up nearly a quarter after warm spring | Food & drink industry

British blueberries are the last fruits to benefit from the hottest spring ever recorded, with the harvest of almost a quarter so far this year.

Producers say that time has produced an early harvest with increasingly large berries, while new varieties can provide higher yields and better resilience. About 5,133 tonnes are expected at the end of August, up nearly 4,187 tonnes by the same point last year.

Spherical fruit sales are already 9% in advance from year to year, growing awareness of health properties and demand for strengthening healthy cultures.

Daniel Martin, group’s commercial director at S&A Produce, said: “This blueberry season has experienced a really positive early start, about two weeks ahead of the calendar, thanks to high levels of light and a lack of rain.

“Consequently, we see an excellent size of fruit and well, even by ripening through the harvest. In summary, we are optimistic about the season and we expect to see an excellent flavor and a conservation time of this year.”

Harvesting is also helped by new technologies while producers invest in automated picking and other methods to reduce labor costs and improve efficiency.

Jim Floor, the director general of Hall Hunter, one of the main blueberry producers of the United Kingdom, said that the company now used machines to harvest 10% of its harvest, and that had to reach 30% next year – the rest chosen by hand.

Blueberries lead the technological push, with strawberries, raspberries and the most delicate blackberries now all picked by hand at Hall Hunter.

“Regarding the picking of robotic fruits, we see stable and encouraging progress of robotics and automation companies. However, technology is not entirely ready for generalized commercial adoption,” said Floor.

The summer with successful blueberries is becoming hot on the heels of a perfect spring for strawberries.

The sunny and very dry source, with the hottest start in May, led to an overabundance of early strawberries, eggplant and tomatoes in early May.

The producers said they produced 50g “giant” strawberries that you “can’t hold in your mouth”. However, the average was a more modest 30 g.

Nick Marston, the British Berry Growers industry chair, said all British bay crops, including strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, were up around 25% thanks to the “cracking time” in June which had helped mature the crops that had developed well during the beginning of spring. “Time has been very beneficial for all bay crops,” he said.

However, Marston said that it was not clear if the overall harvest of the bays for the year would be up this amount, because some fruits would have just been harvested earlier than usual and the picking could withdraw according to the conditions.