Blueberry farmers turn the extra fruit into homemade jam to stay in Profit

In the past, blueberry farmers would harvest and sell blueberries directly from their bushes to customers. Now more farmers are processing their blueberries into goods that people can actually buy from a store, the blueberry flavored jams, juices, preserves like the ones with the little checkered lids.

These farmers didn't wake up one day and decide to be factory owners, but when prices for plain blueberries dip too low at times or when a portion of the crop does not make the cut for fresh sales, they have a choice, throw it all away or process the fruit into something saleable.

In one region of small farms, I can not remember the name it was a few years back, but they used to haul everything from their farms to the market and then one day, they started cooking their own batches of the same fruit. They will take their blueberries, boil them, add sugar, jar them and the next thing you know they have taken that same fruit and sold it for more money simply because it is spreadable on toast instead of just in a punnet. This is what true diversification looks like. When one bad growing season comes along, it will help them keep their business afloat.

I remember tasting one farm's homemade blueberry jam at a roadside market. Even though the jam was made using raw berries, it had bits of skin in it and made my fingers sticky for over an hour after tasting it. But that taste is something else.

It is decent work if you ask me, stirring your pots, labelling your jars, hoping someone will pick your jar off the shelf and buy it. I don't know if the extra effort to make jam is really worth it or if you are simply treading the line between boredom and sacrifice. They're not complaining that much though. I might take this up as a business one day but as all businesses, you need to understand the nuances first otherwise you're preparing yourself to throw away capital.

If you are an already experienced farmer on a smaller farm, you could consider this, raw berries are at their best when they're taken fresh to market, but the jams could stay good longer than the bushes will.

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