Blueberries a smart number

Tuakau grower Chris O'Neill says blueberries need to be well established before they consistently produce enough quality fruit. Picture / Paul Estcourt

As the blueberry harvest gets into full swing growers are optimistic that this season will produce the best crop for at least four years.

With local consumer demand for the fruit growing rapidly - sales are expected to double this year - Blueberries New Zealand chairman Dan Peach is optimistic that the local industry can meet the growing appetite for the fruit.

Peach says the good weather around the country since Christmas means this season is shaping up as one of the best for some time.

However, as picking has just started in some parts of the country - with the harvest going on as late as April - the settled weather needs to stick around for a while yet.

Most of New Zealand's crop is exported to the Northern Hemisphere, but local demand is growing fast from a relatively small base.

The growth in local consumption reflects a global trend that has emerged as more of the fruit's health benefits have been uncovered.

Much of the demand stems from United States research hinting that blueberries have what it takes to increase "neuronal communication" and outsmart some of the negative effects of brain-ageing.

Experiments at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies found that the brain continues to make neurons (a process called neurogenesis), even into old age, but at a rate which slows as the brain ages.

In laboratory experiments being conducted at Tufts University, blueberry supplements appear to increase neurogenesis.

They also appear to bring about an increase in the activity of a family of molecules, called MAP kinases, involved in signalling pathways in learning and memory, especially the conversion of short-term to long-term memory.

Research also shows that that anthocyanin - the colour pigment that makes blueberries blue - is a powerhouse of natural anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatories.

The United States Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research Centre ranks blueberries No 1 in antioxidant activity on its top 40 list of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Preliminary results from a clinical trial showed that people who eat a cup of blueberries a day performed 5 to 6 per cent better on motor skills tests than those in the control group.

South Auckland grower Chris O'Neill began his harvest last week on his 20ha organic fig and blueberry farm in Tuakau.

Marketed under the brand name Delica Unearthed, his crop is destined almost exclusively for export.

Blueberries are not an easy crop to start growing, he says.

While the plant itself is quite prolific - they grow wild in the US - they need to be well established before they consistently produce enough quality fruit.

Four years after his first plantings O'Neill still considers his farm is in the start-up phase.

Blueberries' share of the pie

* New Zealand has about 400ha planted in blueberries.

* Blueberry consumption is around 400 tonnes of fresh and frozen blueberries a year in New Zealand (one sixth of US consumption in per capita terms).

* New Zealanders consume about 5 million blueberry muffins a year.

* In 2003-04 about 364 tonnes of blueberries were exported - 31% going to the US, 27% to Japan, 22% to Australia and 10% to the UK and Europe.