By Jed Lanyon
Peak blueberry season is fast approaching in Victoria meaning there should soon be an abundance of the juicy berry in supermarkets and local farmers markets.
While the Australian blueberry season officially runs from July until April, Victoria’s peak season starts a little later than Queensland and New South Wales and it has proven a stroke of good luck in an otherwise dismal year for all.
Victoria’s blueberry production is expected to pick up in December and run through until March/ April, meaning that local blueberry farmers are an industry that has managed to avoid the worst impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic to date.
Cedric and Cathy Senn of Woori Yallock’s Sennsational Berries are gearing up for the upcoming season and admitted they are “feeling lucky” as Victoria is open for business and tourism again.
“We are extremely grateful that we have gotten to this stage after all the hard work Victorian’s have done to get us here. We really appreciate it very much as farmers,” Mr Senn said.
“I felt sorry for the guys up north for going through what they had to go through, but even they weren’t hit as hard with the worst lockdowns happening here in Victoria.”
Mr Senn said earlier in the pandemic when international workers started losing their jobs, there was an increase in people applying to pick berries.
“We saw chefs, waiters and bar staff looking for work, they were wanting to come out to the Victorian country and it also would help them with their visas.”
Sennsational Berries has been operating for 10 years spread across 45 acres of land of which 25-28 acres is dedicated to growing blueberries where they can carry a total of around 20,000 plants.
While the Senn’s also grow redcurrants, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries, 90 per cent of their income comes from blueberries.
Locals can find Sennsational Berries in Coles and farmers markets closer to the city, while they also offer farmgate sales.
“I think it’s going to be a bumper year. We’ve had one of the wettest winters so far. Right now if they stopped measuring the rainfall, it would have beaten the records for the last five years.
“It’s all great for growing berries. But it will now depend on how the weather treats us over the next six weeks and then off we go.”
