In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Lisa Wasko DeVetter, Ph.D., a professor of small fruit horticulture in the Department of Horticulture within the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences. Her work focuses on applied research and extension related to small fruit production systems, with an emphasis on improving fruit quality, production efficiency and sustainability for crops such as blueberries. DeVetter reflects on the recent flooding of the Northwest, its impact on blueberry producers and the evidence-based recommendations she can make to producers if another flooding event is experienced.

“Fortunately, there was enough time that elapsed between the 2021 flooding and this flood event so some of those fields that were impacted, they were either replanted because the damage was so severe or the planting was young and the grower took advantage of the opportunity just to start over with variety replacement or the field was managed and rejuvenated in such a way that it recovered. So, by the time it had this second flooding event, you know, we're not expecting kind of a double-whammy effect, if you will, from subsequent floodings from relatively close periods of time together.” – Lisa Wasko DeVetter, Ph.D.

Topics covered include:

An introduction to Devetter and her work.
An exploration of the factors that influenced recommendations for producers that were impacted by these two major flooding events.

Crop Report

The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. Today you’ll hear from Brittany Lee in Florida, Ross Phillips in Georgia, Luis Vegas in Peru, Andres Armstrong in Chile, Mario Ramirez in Mexico, T.J. Hafner in Oregon, Alan Schreiber in Washington and Sunny Brar in British Columbia. This was recorded on February 12, 2026.