Berry specialist SunnyRidge Farms has announced that it has formed a partnership with Leduc Blueberries LLC of Michigan, US with the aim of working together to promote blueberries to a wide range of customers.
The grower, packer, shipper and marketer has revealed that the new partnership will be called BlueberryRidge LLC and will be packing under the SunnyRidge label, operating out of a modern packing, pre-cool and cold storage facility located in Paw Paw, Michigan.
'The Leducs have been growers of high-quality Michigan blueberries for two generations and have continuously provided the kind of crop care that has earned them an outstanding reputation in both fresh and processed production and packing,' said SunnyRide business development manager Jerry D'Amore. 'Their dedication to quality is exactly what we need to provide superior product and service to our customers.'
Additionally, the company will be farming committed acreage while continuing to expand the operation with contract growers in the area, ensuring proper food safety along the way – allowing SunnyRidge to provide customers with quality and reliability of supply, it said.
The Michigan blueberry season runs from July through to September, and yielded 2.4m lbs of fruit, or 5 per cent of the fresh market for SunnyRidge in 2008. Market share is expected to grow to 15-20 per cent during the 2009 season as a result of the Leduc partnership.
'Michigan is the largest blueberry-producing region in the world, in 2008 the region produced around 45m lbs of fresh blueberries,' said SunnyRidge CEO Keith Mixon. 'Through our partnership with Leduc's, SunnyRidge now has the opportunity to work with some of the best growers in the region.'
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