The sweet story of Peru’s blueberry boom
Plucky farmers have transformed the market in only ten years
Peru’s blueberry harvest is just beginning, and Ivan Jauregui, an agronomist, looks excited. At a farm he oversees about 100km north of Lima, the capital, workers are gently twisting the fruit from their bushes. Staff in a newly built packing-plant load the best berries into refrigerated shipping containers, then pack them off to the port of Callao. Mr Jauregui says he once squeezed 35 tonnes of blueberries from a single hectare of land; he is always hoping to beat this record. “Every year we have to grow and improve,” he says.
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This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Blue gold”
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