Among the group of red fruits that has been growing the most in Spain during the last decade is the blueberry, being the Andalusian province of Huelva the main producer, far ahead of other areas in Spain although this was not the precursor of its cultivation.
The increase in world production of blueberries together with varietal improvement, fertilization, post-harvest, transport logistics, etc., allow its availability as fresh fruit throughout the year and anywhere in the world. Spain together with Poland, Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Portugal are the main blueberry producing countries in Europe.
In the case of Spain, the cultivation area for red fruits in the province of Huelva, ascends to more than 11,700 hectares for the 2019/2020 campaign, observing an increase of 2% with respect to the 11,464 hectares of berries planted in the 2018/2019annuity. In the set of red fruits, it´s reflected that the surface of strawberry and blueberry stabilizes with little significant increases of 2% and 1% respectively, while that of the raspberry rises 7% and that the blackberry drops 9%.
V Technical day of blueberry crop of the province of Huelva (Spain)
As we have indicated, Huelva is the main production area in Spain and it has also become one of the world’s interest in blueberry cultivation.
Proof of this is that in this province its monographic technical day on the blueberry has been celebrated in a traditional way.
The celebration data of this V edition are:
- Title: V Technical day of blueberry cultivation
- Date: March 4, 2020
- Place of celebration:
- Álvaro Alonso Barba Building, Aula Magna
- E.T.S: La Rabida
- Carretera de la Rabida, S/N
- Palos de la Frontera (Huelva – Spain)
- Organized by: Official College of Agricultural Technical Engineers of Western Andalusia (Delegation of Huelva).
Blueberry fertilisation program
An adequate blueberry fertiliser program aims at yield and quality, which translates into greater crop profitability and therefore also for the farmer. Also, the fertilisation to be used season by season must be specific in each farm, so you cannot generalize a recipe for all conditions. In this context, JISA participates in this V Technical day of blueberry crop to transfer to the producer sector our technology in advanced nutrition and personalized advice from the hand of our technicians.
Thus, the attendees at the conference will find in our stand products such as Glybet, Top-K, Cuajemax, Furdos, Gorfrut, Jisabiol or Algadul as examples of JISA agricultural biostimulants, which properly applied within the blueberry fertilisation program, help to make profitable the farmer crop.
Blueberry cultivation in Huelva
If we take a retrospective view of the cultivation of blueberries in Spain, we have to go back until 1967 in which the first commercial blueberry plot was planted in the Asturian city of Tineo. The quantitative leap in importance of this plant was in the late 80’s when the first professional plantations appear in Asturias and Galicia.
Blueberry cultivation in Huelva has its beginnings in the early 90’s with a plantation of just over 3 hectares. Its good work, commitment of growers and marketing firms have achieved that this initial area has been steadily increasing until reaching the thousand hectares existing today, making it the largest blueberry producing area in Europe for early spring harvest.