Breeding focus: shaping the future of blueberry production

Breeding for what matters: efficiency, quality and the future

At Fall Creek®, our breeding programme is shaped by the real needs of growers. While key features like yield, flavour, berry size, crunch and plant structure remain essential, we’re seeing increasing interest across Europe in two important areas: harvest concentration and mechanical harvest suitability.

Harvest concentration, the proportion of fruit that can be picked in a single pass, can help reduce labour costs and improve efficiency. At the same time, successful mechanical harvesting relies on varieties with strong plant architecture and firm, resilient fruit.

Many of our recent varieties have been developed with these goals in mind. One variety, now in final-stage evaluation, shows potential for up to 90% of its crop to be harvested in a single pass. Several others are progressing steadily through our development pipeline. As always, final selection is based on performance across all key features.

Ultimately, a variety’s value lies in its ability to deliver strong yields at a sustainable cost, because in commercial production, the numbers always matter.

Join us at Fruit Logistica 2026, where we’ll showcase these and other exceptional new High Chill varieties and share insights from our ongoing trials.

Our breeding programme video shares more about our approach and what lies ahead: watch now.