The simplest conclusion after the challenging 2026 season for Ukrainian blueberries might be that spring frosts significantly reduced yields and that growers should therefore change their varietal structure and focus on earlier varieties. However, the Ukrainian Blueberry Growers Association believes the issue should be viewed much more broadly, EastFruit reports.
Today’s market no longer allows a variety to be evaluated on the basis of just two parameters: yield and ripening time. For growers, flowering time, resistance to weather stress, marketable yield, harvesting speed, berry firmness, shelf life, suitability for mechanisation and even the countries entering the European market during the same week are becoming increasingly important.
All these factors also determine how much a particular variety can realistically earn per hectare within its specific market window. The 2026 season has provided Ukrainian growers with enough evidence to begin reassessing their varietal strategies from this broader perspective.
The 2026 season became a real stress test for Ukrainian plantations
Spring 2026 brought several waves of severe frost to Ukrainian blueberry growers. According to the Ukrainian Blueberry Growers Association, the impact varied significantly depending on the region, stage of plant development, variety and frost-protection technologies used by individual farms.
The experience of Zakarpattia was particularly illustrative. At plantations operated by Blue Berry, temperatures dropped to as low as -6.7°C on certain nights. In total, the farm had to implement frost-protection measures for 15 nights.
Some farms suffered substantial crop losses this season and, in some cases, losses of plants as a result of winter frosts. For example, Grass Avenue Farm in Zhytomyr region and Zakhar Sad Farm in Lviv region reported 100% crop losses.
By summer, the consequences of the spring weather anomalies became evident during harvesting. Yields of mid-season and late blueberry varieties declined significantly on some Ukrainian plantations.
At the same time, results from different farms once again demonstrated that the same weather stress can have very different consequences depending on the variety, microclimate and production technology.
However, the Association warns against drawing overly simplistic conclusions from a single difficult season.
“An early variety does not automatically mean lower risk, just as a late variety does not automatically mean greater vulnerability. The phenology of each particular variety is also important: when vegetation begins, when flowering takes place and at what stage the plant encounters critically low temperatures,” says Nataliia Pukshyn, President of the Ukrainian Blueberry Growers Association.
A classic example is Duke. It is considered an early variety in terms of harvesting time, but it flowers relatively late, which under certain conditions may reduce the risk of spring frost damage.
The definition of an efficient variety is changing globally
Today, varietal strategy is increasingly becoming more than simply an agronomic issue.
Ukrainian growers discussed this trend directly in May during a professional meeting organised by the Ukrainian Blueberry Growers Association in Zakarpattia with Stephen Taylor, Managing Director of Winterwood Farms Ltd. and the UK representative to the International Blueberry Organization.
The discussion focused not only on production technologies. Growers addressed new forms of global competition, varietal strategy, differences in production costs between countries, automation, mechanical harvesting, postharvest technologies, the cold chain, packaging and the requirements of international retailers.
The Association considers such meetings one of the practical tools for developing Ukraine’s blueberry sector.
“For Ukrainian blueberry growers, it is critically important to see themselves not only as berry producers, but as participants in a global supply chain,” Nataliia Pukshyn said following the meeting with Stephen Taylor.
This approach directly affects variety selection.
If an international buyer evaluates not only the berries on the bush but also their stability after harvest, size, shelf life, batch uniformity, ability to withstand logistics and compliance with the requirements of a particular retail chain, all these characteristics effectively become part of the economics of the variety.
Early market entry no longer guarantees a premium price
There is another reason why Ukrainian growers should be more cautious about the concept of an “early variety”.
Europe’s summer blueberry supply window is becoming increasingly crowded.
According to international industry organisations, Serbia actively enters the market at around week 24 of the year. Supply then increases from Romania, Poland and other European producers. At the same time, Georgia is developing rapidly.
According to the International Blueberry Organization, Ukraine had approximately 5,500 hectares of blueberry plantations as of 2021. During wartime, registers are closed and statistical reporting is limited, so updated data for 2026 will be included in an industry market study initiated by the Ukrainian Blueberry Growers Association.
Meanwhile, new projects are actively introducing modern genetics, while the industry as a whole is working to extend the supply season.
For Ukrainian blueberry growers and exporters, it is therefore essential to understand what will be happening on the market during the specific week when their crop reaches commercial volumes.
If the main harvest of a particular variety coincides with the period when Serbia, Romania, Poland and Ukraine are simultaneously increasing supply, the status of an “early variety” does not necessarily guarantee a high price.
The Ukrainian Blueberry Growers Association therefore draws attention to the relationship between a variety’s agronomic window and its commercial window in a specific market.
Poland is also changing varieties, and Ukraine must not lose its advantage
Poland is one of Europe’s largest blueberry producers and a direct competitor to Ukraine during the summer season.
According to the International Blueberry Organization, the area under blueberries in Poland reached approximately 12,900 hectares in 2024.
More importantly, however, the Polish industry is gradually shifting from simply expanding acreage towards renewing its varietal portfolio, improving fruit quality and increasing technological efficiency.
Nataliia Pukshyn points out that the relatively young age of a significant share of Ukrainian plantations and their more modern varietal structure currently give Ukraine a certain competitive advantage.
“The Ukrainian industry remains young, and this is our competitive advantage,” says the Association’s president when analysing Ukraine’s position in the global market.
However, this advantage cannot be taken for granted.
Polish producers are also modernising, working with modern varieties including Draper and Calypso, developing storage capacity and increasingly assessing opportunities for mechanical harvesting.
This is why the Ukrainian Blueberry Growers Association, by bringing producers together, is working to develop the domestic berry sector through modern genetics, efficient harvesting, postharvest handling, cold-chain management and contracts with international buyers and retailers.
The Association focuses on knowledge and direct access to international expertise
One of the priorities of the Ukrainian Blueberry Growers Association is not only to consolidate producers but also to create opportunities for systematic professional training.
The Association organises specialised meetings directly at the production sites of its members, as well as educational events involving international experts.
Professional exchange does not take place only in conference halls.
For the Association, it is important to combine international expertise with the practical experience of Ukrainian farms by giving growers the opportunity to visit plantations, see technologies, varieties and equipment, and discuss specific production results and challenges.
Through the Academy for blueberry growers, producers have received practical knowledge on establishing and managing plantations, modern varieties and market requirements.
The Association also represents Ukraine in the International Blueberry Organization.
According to Nataliia Pukshyn, the value of this representation lies in access to international market intelligence, professional contacts, technological trends and the experience of other countries that Ukrainian producers can use when making their own decisions.
This exchange of knowledge is particularly important today, when a mistake made while establishing a new plantation can effectively lock a farm into a particular production model for many years.
Labour shortages are also changing varietal strategy
Another factor increasingly influencing variety selection is labour availability.
In many regions, farms have to transport workers over considerable distances, compete for labour and constantly calculate harvesting productivity.
As a result, two varieties with the same yield can have completely different financial performance.
“If workers can harvest significantly more kilograms per hour from one variety, while the berries are larger, detach more easily, suffer less damage and provide a higher percentage of marketable fruit, the difference in profitability can be substantial even with the same yield per hectare,” says Nataliia Pukshyn.
Automation and mechanical harvesting were also among the central topics discussed during the meeting with Stephen Taylor organised by the Association.
Not “old or new”, but real economics
At the same time, the Association stresses the need to avoid another extreme: chasing new varieties simply because they are new.
A new variety does not automatically become profitable simply because it has an attractive description in a breeding programme. Performance under specific production conditions should remain the decisive factor.
For one farm, Duke may continue to be a strong variety. For another, a newer variety with firmer berries, a higher percentage of marketable fruit or a different harvesting period may be more economically attractive.
Today, the Ukrainian Blueberry Growers Association brings together 48 members representing approximately 1,700 hectares of blueberry plantations.
This creates another important opportunity for the industry: accumulating not only international experience but also Ukraine’s own production data.
“Our Association already brings together 48 producers, and each of them is presented on the organisation’s website,” Nataliia Pukshyn noted, highlighting the openness of the professional community.
Association members operate in different regions of Ukraine and work with different varieties, soil and climatic conditions, technologies and marketing models.
This makes it possible to compare how the same genetics perform under different production conditions.
Could Ukraine create a Blueberry Variety Performance Map?
One potentially valuable next step for professional discussion could be the creation of a Ukrainian Blueberry Variety Performance Map — a system for assessing the actual performance of blueberry varieties under Ukrainian conditions.
It would not be a ranking of the “best” and “worst” varieties, but rather a system for accumulating real production data.
For each variety, growers could compare flowering periods, response to frost, actual harvesting periods, yield, marketable yield, berry size, shelf life, manual harvesting productivity, suitability for mechanisation and the actual commercial market window.
Combined with international information received through the International Blueberry Organization and contacts with foreign experts, such an approach could ultimately provide Ukrainian growers with significantly more value than universal varietal recommendations.
The key question is which varieties perform best specifically in Ukraine, in a particular region and within a particular business model.
The 2026 season should be used as a source of data, not just as a story of losses
The Ukrainian Blueberry Growers Association stresses that Ukraine’s blueberry sector is moving from a period of rapid acreage expansion towards a much more complex stage focused on efficiency, quality and professionalisation.
Varietal strategy is becoming part of this transition.
The 2026 season clearly demonstrates how many different factors determine the final financial result today: weather, phenology, genetics, labour, quality, postharvest handling, logistics and market conditions at the precise moment of harvesting.
“The global blueberry market is no longer a shortage market as it was ten years ago,” says the President of the Association.
That is why Ukrainian growers need to calculate their competitiveness with increasing precision. The role of a professional industry association is also changing in this environment.
The Association enables producers to gain knowledge faster, compare the experience of dozens of farms, communicate directly with international practitioners, understand changes in global markets and avoid repeating costly mistakes made in other countries.
For this reason, the Association continues to organise professional meetings at its members’ plantations, involve international experts, participate in training and industry events and use the opportunities provided by the International Blueberry Organization to give Ukrainian growers access to international expertise.
Decisions made at the intersection of domestic production experience, data from Ukrainian farms and international expertise may ultimately determine the next stage in the development of Ukraine’s blueberry sector.
The use of the site materials is free if there is a direct and open for search engines hyperlink to a specific publication of the East-Fruit.com website.
