The Americas | Blue gold

The sweet story of Peru’s blueberry boom

Plucky farmers have transformed the market in only ten years

Organic blueberry farm, Peru.
Photograph: The Economist/M.T
|Lima

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”

From the September 14th 2024 edition

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