Blue Notes from Fall Creek

Fall Creek South Africa has reached another exciting milestone with the first plants of AtlasBlue® ‘FCM12-045’, BiancaBlue® ‘FCM12-087’, and JupiterBlue® ‘FCM12-131’ having been delivered to commercial growers across South Africa. Shipping began in South Africa November 30th and will continue through March of 2021.

We’re pleased to announce that Tom Blaser has joined Fall Creek Farm & Nursery, Inc.’s professional board of directors. Most recently, Tom served as senior vice president and chief financial officer of W.R. Grace, a $2.2-billion global specialty chemical company. His appointment brings the Fall Creek board to nine individuals.

Fall Creek’s open catalog varieties, one of our commercialization models, offer customers excellent quality but with nonexclusive contracts and no upfront fees. These varieties have proven their value at large-scale commercial operations worldwide and are requested by customers for their dependability for success. At Fall Creek South Africa, open catalog varieties include Ventura and Victoria™ ‘TH-929’.

We’re only weeks away from shipping to growers our first-ever South Africa crop of our Fall Creek® Collection varieties. By summer solstice this year, we will celebrate the delivery of AtlasBlue® ‘FCM12-045’, BiancaBlue® ‘FCM12-087’, and JupiterBlue® ‘FCM12-131’ — all no-low chill varieties — from our brand-new Paarl nursery.

We are grateful for our employees’ commitment to new practices such as always wearing masks, distancing, temperature taking, frequent handwashing & more.

The summer crop in Fall Creek’s Spain nursery is looking beautiful! This crop, includes no, low, mid and high chill varieties, is ready for delivery to our customers throughout Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

For a couple of years, Fall Creek Farm & Nursery, Inc.‘s Oregon operations have had an employee garden at our Pleasant Hill farm. This year’s half-acre garden, planted in May, has been producing bountiful crops.

Kasey Cronquist and the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) are doing an outstanding job with their new podcast series, The Business of Blueberries.

Many of you may be hearing of the serious fires burning all around Oregon and the entire west coast - including very near to our nursery operations. Our hearts are with our employees, friends, and customers, especially...

Elsa Muller is one of two Fall Creek Farm & Nursery South Africa sales and grower support representatives whose passion for growing runs long and deep. Elsa grew up in the small town of Riebeek Kasteel in the beautiful Swartland, where her whole family worked in agriculture (wine or fruit).

Come take a quick look into Fall Creek Farm & Nursery, Inc.‘s new South Africa operations. In this brief video, Fall Creek’s Regional Director for South Africa, Burgert Van Dyk, gives a preview of the nursery project and Andries van Rhyn, Production Manager, gives a glimpse into the nursery’s first blueberry plants of AtlasBlue® ‘FCM12-045’ going into production.

Dane Castle, as one of two sales and grower support representatives at Fall Creek Farm & Nursery South Africa, has now logged 20,000+ kilometers traveling the provinces of South Africa, and countries of Southern Africa, meeting with blueberry growers from Limpopo to Mpumalanga and Kwazulu-Natal, and from Zimbabwe to Kenya and beyond — all since he was hired last September.

A huge shoutout to the United States Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) for this powerful infographic about blueberries and our thanks to the growers that grow and ship them.

PeachyBlue ‘ZF08-029’ is a just-launched Fall Creek Collection variety that is garnering lots of attention for its truly exceptional and unique, peach-like flavor and crunch.

Co-CEO Cort Brazelton continues his series of blueberry variety update videos out on the Henry Research Farm in Oregon. In this latest capture, you’ll learn more about how Blue Ribbon, Top Shelf, Valor ‘ZF08-070’, and Cargo are performing.