January - March 2018

Blueberry Wars: A New Hope

Okay, saying “blueberry wars” is pure hyperbole, but sometimes it seems that way doesn’t it? Other states like Georgia and Florida are the big players and Mississippi is not on their level of production, so getting a slice of the market-place is getting tougher. But could a transition to southern highbush help? I discuss this on page 7. Also included in this issue is some recommendations for disease sample collection from Dr. Melanson (page 2) and some meeting recaps from the Mississippi Blueberry Education Workshop held in Hatties-burg and the Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference held in Sa-vannah, Georgia. The MSU Coastal Research and Extension Center is also holding a Producer Advisory Council program on February 27. I know some of you will be there to give us some feedback and words of wisdom. As always I hope you get something useful out of this newsletter and may the force be with you this upcoming growing season.

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