A North American Blueberry Council report released in August provides a sobering account of just how fast blueberry production has increased since the mid-1990s.

The report shows that North American blueberry production increased from an average of 280 million pounds a year between 1990 and 1994 to 786 million pounds a year in the four-year period ending last year, an increase of 180 percent.

Just in the last ten years U.S. blueberry production has increased 81 percent, going from an average annual production of 434 million pounds in the five-year period ending in 2004 to 786 million pounds between 2010 and 2013.

And it shows the annual production increase has averaged 36 percent a year since 2009.

In addition to being a sobering report on just how big the industry has become, the report highlights the importance of industry-funded campaigns to increase consumption, said Oregon grower Doug Krahmer, a member of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council’s (USHBC) Finance Committee.

Further, Krahmer believes the key to that increased consumption can be traced to promotional efforts that have centered on the health benefits of blueberries.

“You can’t quantify how much that health-benefit message has helped the blueberry industry,” Krahmer said. “It has just been hugely successful.

“When I go out and talk to people and blueberries come up, almost immediately somebody says, ‘Yeah, blueberries are really healthy for you.’ That has been so invaluable to have that message,” he said.

Research the industry helped fund provided evidence that blueberries contain antioxidants and showed what antioxidants can do for metabolic health.

Krahmer said even in the initial stages of the USHBC, which formed in 2001, growers were adamant about getting that message out.

“We were adamant about the promotion budget, and the type and quality of promotion we needed to keep up with production,” he said.

“I think you can attribute a significant percentage of the increased demand (from 20 ounces per person to 45 ounces per person) on the fact that we were able to get the blueberry message to the consumer that blueberries are good for you,” Krahmer said.

That message now needs further refinement, Krahmer said, to continue increasing consumption.

“In my opinion, we’re at risk of using up all the momentum that we can garner with this message,” he said. “The question now is, ‘what is our next message to maintain that momentum?’”

Krahmer believes that human health studies, now being initiated by the USHBC, will provide the industry substance to expand its message and continue increasing consumption.

The studies are expensive, Krahmer said.

The Council is using funds it generated from an assessment increase (from 12 to 18 cents per hundredweight), which kicked in this year, to fund the studies.

Krahmer said he hopes the studies will allow the industry to refine its message about the health benefits of blueberries.

“If at the end of the research, the scientists can say, ‘Yes, if you consume two ounces of blueberries a day, your risk of heart disease goes down and your memory improves and your risk of diabetes goes down.’ That would be the home run, if they could come up with a measurable change in all three of those areas.

“And I think that is the next level,” he said. “I believe that message will convince a significant percentage of people who eat blueberries occasionally to switch to eating blueberries regularly.”