Blue Notes from Fall Creek

By Dane Castle, Fall Creek® Grower Support South Africa

In the second installment of our quarterly newsletter, we delve deeper into two opposing elements that influence the development of the blueberry plant – heat and chill.

One of the groundbreaking areas globally where Fall Creek blueberries are grown is on the banks of the Kavango River in Namibia at Mashare Berries.

Congratulations to our Fall Creek® South Africa team for passing the halfway mark on the production of their second crop of blueberry plants to serve South Africa’s growers.

The first season of AtlasBlue® ‘FCM12-045’ blueberries at Fall Creek South Africa are thriving on the producers’ farms.

Anticipation is building here at Fall Creek® in Oregon with our employee garden off to an exciting start at our Pleasant Hill Farm with 400 tomato plants and 800 peppers planted today.

Valerie Shepler has joined Fall Creek Farm & Nursery, Inc., as commercial manager for the United States and Canada, where she is responsible for establishing and developing strong relationships with the company’s blueberry nursery and genetics customers, overseeing the implementation and administration of new plant preview and genetics licensing programs, and managing the customer service, sales, and grower support team. Based in the company’s Lowell, Ore. office, she reports to Scott Cully, regional director for the U.S. and Canada, and Jason Wolcott, commercial director for Fall Creek globally.

Did you know it’s National Blueberry Pie Day?

Start your pie-making season with this classic Blueberry Pie.

By Dane Castle, Fall Creek Grower Support Southern Africa.

In this first column of our South Africa new Insider insights and Technical Tips series, we are focusing on the terminology and physiology of the blueberry plant.

I always knew that the women at Fall Creek were special. My mom founded the company with my dad. They worked day and night, problem solving at the kitchen table side by side.

International Blueberry Conference (Konferencja Borówkowa 2021) in Poland.

Mariusz will cover several important topics including water and soils, fertigation and cultivation systems and pruning.

On February 24-25, Fall Creek’s Europe held its first virtual Blueberry School in French. Focused on no & low chill varieties, this seminar hosted more than 40 growers from North Africa. Presenters included Abdelhadi Zougui, Juan Antonio Lorenzo Sigüenza, Hans Liekens & Olivier Coste.

Fall Creek Farm & Nursery, Inc., a blueberry breeding and nursery company, has announced Scott Cully as regional director for the United States and Canada, reporting to Co-CEO Oscar Verges. Cully joined the company as general manager in 2008. He will be based in Lowell, Oregon.

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’.