The highbush blueberry is indigenous to southern New Jersey, where it was first cultivated. It favors acidic soils, growing wild across eastern North America along the edges of freshwater marshes, saltwater marshes and cedar swamps as well as on barrier-island beaches, sandy oak woods and pine woods. Wild blueberries have always been with us, but the first cultivated blueberries were developed in 1916 by F.V. Coville at Elizabeth White's farm at Whitesbog, Burlington County. Today there are more than 39,120 acres of cultivated blueberries in the country. New Jersey's production of 38 million pounds of highbush blueberries is 21 percent of the nation's total, second only to Michigan.
Blueberries grow in clusters, with berries at the bottom ripening before the ones at the top.
That means each blueberry bush must be harvested by hand several times a season. By the peak of the two-month season, Atlantic Blueberry will employ 2,000 pickers to harvest its annual total of 8 million pounds of berries, Galletta said. The final harvest is done by machine and those berries are processed, rather than shipped fresh, he said. Highbush blueberries are hardy plants, although farmers must constantly guard against insects, weeds and fungus. A U.S. Department of Agriculture survey of antioxidants in 40 fruits and vegetables placed blueberries at the top.