A "Berry" Good Idea Gets on a Retail Roll

NJBIZ, Sep 10, 2007

HAMMONTON

Farmers, Rutgers and a manufacturing facility form a promising partnership

THEY'RE STILL COUNTING, but the state's blueberry farmers ended the year's crop season three weeks ago with a record 55 million tons, valued at between $83 and $85 million, compared with last year's 52 million pounds valued at $83.7 million. "We owe it in part to the surge in demand worldwide for blueberries," says Al Murray, the state's assistant secretary of agriculture.

Blueberry farmers have more reason to cheer in Atlantic County's Hammonton, the "world's blueberry capital." In recent weeks, a blueberry-based iced tea brand, called "Jersey Blues," they helped create began lining the shelves of prime New York City health food stores. The brand now retails in 58 stores in New Jersey and 12 in New York City as well as 13 across Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.

Blueberry Health Inc., which makes the drink and a blueberry extract product, is a joint venture between blueberry farmers, Rutgers University and Herbalist & Alchemist Inc., a health foods maker and distributor in Warren County's Washington Township.

The idea to commercialize value-added blueberry-based products came about 10 years ago when growers, including Dennis Doyle andArt Galetta of Atlantic Blueberry Co. in Hammonton, tapped Rutgers University to find ways to increase their profitability.

Adesoji Adelaja, then professor at Rutgers' Agricultural Food & Resource Economics Department in New Brunswick, and his colleague Stan Cajigas jumped at the idea, and in 1998 lined up a $94,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Over time, other Rutgers departments joined in, including the Food Policy Institute, the Department of Food Sciences, the Center for Advanced Food Techno logy and the Philip E. Marucci Center for Blueberry and Cranberry Research and Extension. They had technology ready for two of five products planned by the time Blueberry Health was formed in April 2000.

Rutgers is Blueberry Health's majority shareholder through its Office of Corporate liaison and Technology Transfer (OCLTT) along with blueberry farmers representing 14 plantation firms, the New Jersey Pinelands Commission and New Jersey FarmBureau, an advocacy group in Trenton. They roped in Herbalist & Alchemist as a "manager" of the enterprise, which started off in a Rutgers incubator.

Beth Lambert, Blueberry Health's president, says that combination helped keep startup costs low, which meant the firm "didn't have to raise millions of dollars to buy equipment." Herbalist & Alchemist brought in the required production capacity and distribution expertise; it also houses Blueberry Health's offices.

The Washington Township facility produces the blueberry extract, while the iced tea is bottled under contract by a Maryland firm. By May, Blueberry Health will have its own bottling facility in a new building under construction at the Rutgers Food Innovation Center in New Brunswick.

Brian Schilling, associate director at the Food Policy Institute and one of the early members of the blueberry project, says he is more than satisfied with the progress at Blueberry Health. The firm is one of 10 startups promoted by Rutgers OCLTT that include biotechnology, pharmaceutical and shellfish hatchery firms.

Schilling says that when the blueberry farmers tapped Rutgers, it seemed like the right project to pursue. New Jersey is the country's second largest blueberry producer after Michigan, with most of its 7,600-acre base in Atlantic and Burlington counties. Last year, the state's blueberry crop was valued at $83.7 million, up more than 51 percent over that of 2005. Blueberries also accounted for 70 percent of the total value of the five fruit and berry crops in the state; the others are peaches, apples, cranberries and strawberries.

Blueberry's famed antioxidant qualities also chimed with the growing popularity of health foods. Schilling says Rutgers scientists and researchers essentially perfected the technology "to isolate and stabilize the good parts" of the blueberry fruit.

Besides its antioxidant qualities, Schilling says the fruit is also believed to help improve eye health and eyesight, while projects elsewhere in the country explored its efficacy in treating age-related deficiencies such as with mo tor functions. Amy Howell, a researcher at the Marucci Center, recently published a paper highlighting the uses of blueberries in treating urinary tract infections.

Blueberry Health has yet to launch a sports drink and a juice Rutgers scientists have worked on. "Distribution has been a challenge for a small companythatproduces abeverage like iced tea, but the customer reception has been tremendous," says Schilling.

Vin Raritan, general manager at Princeton retail store Olive May Natural Foods, says, "People like the way it (Jersey Blues) tastes." His store bought its first lot of a half-dozen cases three weeks ago. Raritan says a 16-ounce bottle retails for $1.99, and Blueberry Health faces tough competition from brands like Vitamin Water, Odwalla and Naked Juice.