Last week, BCI's Kasey Cruz and Scott Somerville joined the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) in Monterey, California, for its annual Blueberry Convention and Data & Intelligence Summit.
The week opened with the Data & Intelligence Summit, where attendees learned about USHBC's new BerryInsights center. The summit was especially relevant for Kasey, who leads BCI's development of the USHBC Global Export Database and supports the council's other data needs. The main convention covered industry trends, new technology and blueberry promotion efforts, and included an evening event at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
On the final day, Scott joined a farm tour through the Salinas Valley. At Scattini Family Farms, Mike and Greg Scattini talked about the family's history of farming in the region, how they grow artichokes, and the technologies that help them stay profitable as regulations grow more restrictive. At Tanimura & Antle, the group watched lettuce farming in action and saw fields being prepared for the next crop. The tour also stopped at RESERVOIR, an on-farm agtech incubator where startups test agricultural robotics, physical AI, biological technologies and hardware in real field conditions.
Events like these keep our team close to the people, data and innovations shaping the blueberry industry. We bring that insight to our work helping USHBC expand market access around the world.