China’s Blueberry Boom Is a Warning for Georgia’s Biggest Fruit Crop

A fight over blueberries in southwestern China may appear far removed from Georgia farms or the produce aisles of North Atlanta. But it reaches directly into two things Georgia has spent decades building: a major blueberry industry and a valuable collection of protected plant varieties.

China has overtaken the United States as the world’s largest blueberry producer after American and other Western companies helped introduce modern growing methods and premium varieties. A Wall Street Journal investigation found that Driscoll’s, the California berry company, later faced intense local competition, unauthorized propagation of protected plants and a market flooded with fruit.

For Georgia, the immediate concern is not that Chinese blueberries are about to overwhelm local supermarkets. China grows most of its crop for its own consumers. The larger warning is what can happen when proprietary plant genetics travel into a market where enforcement is difficult, production expands rapidly and a promising export destination becomes a powerful competitor.

Blueberries Are Serious Business in Georgia

Georgia produced nearly 117 million pounds of cultivated blueberries in 2025, including almost 83 million pounds sold to the fresh market. The crop’s estimated production value exceeded $224 million, according to the USDA’s Georgia agricultural overview.

That made Georgia one of the country’s largest blueberry-producing states and the center of a broader Southeastern industry. North Carolina produced approximately 48.6 million pounds in 2025, while Florida produced nearly 24 million pounds. Together, the three Sun Belt states supplied close to 190 million pounds of blueberries worth nearly $400 million.

In Georgia, blueberries have surpassed peaches in production value and remain the state’s leading fruit and tree-nut crop. The state’s 2025 output declined from approximately 136 million pounds a year earlier, yet its production value rose sharply as the average price for fresh-market berries climbed from $1.60 to $2.48 per pound.

Those numbers illustrate how sensitive the business can be to crop size, harvest timing and available supply. Georgia farmers typically compete for an important spring market window, when domestic berries begin replacing imported fruit on store shelves.

The Georgia Connection Runs Through Plant Genetics

Georgia’s investment in blueberries extends well beyond farms. University of Georgia researchers have developed commercially important varieties adapted to the state’s climate, harvest season and growing conditions.

Former UGA horticulturist Scott NeSmith released more than 40 blueberry varieties during his career. UGA-developed varieties have been licensed and grown around the world, reaching every continent except Antarctica, according to the university’s research commercialization office.

Those varieties represent years of breeding, testing and public research. Licensing allows universities and plant developers to recover part of that investment while giving growers access to berries with better flavor, firmness, yield, disease resistance or shelf life.

That is why the Chinese dispute carries particular weight for Georgia. Courts in China have found unauthorized cultivation of protected Western blueberry varieties, while Driscoll’s has filed more than 20 cases involving its plants and related intellectual property. There is no indication that UGA varieties were involved, but the cases show how easily a valuable cultivar can be reproduced once plant material leaves the control of its owner.

Unlike a machine or software program, a blueberry plant can be copied through cuttings. One illegally obtained plant can become many, potentially allowing a competing grower to avoid years of breeding expenses and licensing payments.

Chinese Berries Are Not Driving the Local Import Market

Consumers in Johns Creek, Alpharetta or Cumming are unlikely to find large volumes of Chinese blueberries in their grocery stores. The United States imported a record 720 million pounds of fresh blueberries in 2025, but the increase was led by Peru, Mexico and Chile, according to an International Blueberry Organization review of USDA figures.

Those countries supply American stores during months when domestic production is limited. Mexico can overlap with the early Southern season, while Georgia and California compete for a relatively narrow May and June market window.

China’s influence is more indirect. American growers gained access to the Chinese fresh-blueberry market in 2020, offering what once appeared to be an enormous new destination for U.S. fruit. High tariffs and China’s extraordinary increase in domestic production sharply reduced that opportunity.

China now accounts for nearly one-third of global blueberry output and has more than twice the blueberry acreage of the United States. Worldwide production reached approximately 2.3 million metric tons in 2025 and could approach 3.4 million metric tons within several years, according to the International Blueberry Organization’s 2026 industry outlook.

Georgia’s Advantage Will Have to Be Quality

For Georgia growers, the lesson is not simply to produce more berries. The global industry is moving toward fruit that is larger, firmer, sweeter and capable of surviving longer journeys without losing quality. Older or softer varieties increasingly risk being pushed into the lower-priced processing market.

Georgia retains several advantages. Its spring harvest can reach consumers before much of the northern United States begins picking. Its university breeding program has produced varieties adapted to Southern conditions. The state also sits close to large and growing consumer markets across Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville and Florida.

Protecting those advantages will require continued investment in breeding, stronger safeguards for licensed plants and greater emphasis on the Georgia identity of the fruit. For shoppers who want to support domestic growers, checking the country and state of origin during Georgia’s spring season remains one of the simplest ways to do it.

China’s blueberry transformation will not determine the price of a clamshell in Alpharetta tomorrow. It does show, however, how quickly agricultural knowledge and plant genetics can create a competitor capable of reshaping an entire global market.

About the Author

North Atlanta Star

Editorial Desk

The North Atlanta Star reports and edits useful, independent journalism for communities across North Fulton, South Forsyth and northeast Gwinnett.

View profile About North Atlanta Star