In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” you’ll hear a live recording of U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and North American Blueberry Council (NABC) President Kasey Cronquist’s keynote address to the blueberry industry, which was recorded live at the 2024 Blueberry Summit in Denver. He was joined by Brad Moorer, CEO of MBG Marketing, blueberry grower Michael Hill and USHBC Chair Shelly Hartmann. Cronquist and his guests discuss the value of continued investment in the USHBC and the industry’s potential expansion.

“You have the USHBC … where you can collectively bring everybody together to pull the biggest lever that you have to bring consumers back to the category or to the category for the first time in such a way that helps lift demand. And that helps everybody. And that's why USHBC got started in the first place: There was vision in what was going to need to happen in order to handle the circumstances. And, today, we're in different circumstances. We're at a crossroad.” – Kasey Cronquist

Topics covered include:

• The need for an increased assessment for the blueberry industry.
• The industry’s perspective on what it will take to continue to expand blueberry demand globally, and the best strategy to accomplish this task.
• A grower's perspective on the proposed increased assessment, and the need this investment meets for producers in the industry.
• The goals of the USHBC, what an increased assessment will provide for the organization, and how an increased assessment will help USHBC better support blueberry producers.