Folsom, Ca.- Blueberry growers and importers will have the opportunity to provide their evaluation of the effectiveness of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) program during the USHBC Continuation Referendum scheduled to take place over a three-week period from July 5 to July 26, 2011. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requires a continuation referendum for national research and promotion programs every five years. The second USHBC continuation referendum is scheduled for this year.
Referendum ballots will be mailed directly by the USDA to blueberry growers and importers in late June. Voting will take place over the three-week period from July 5 to July 26, 2011. Outcome will be based on a simple majority of the number of voters voting, and a majority of the volume voted. Those who do not receive their ballot by July 5 are encouraged to contact the USDA or the USHBC office.
Results from the last continuation referendum in August of 2006 showed that 86.9 percent of those who voted favored continuation of the USHBC and those who voted in favor represented 93.9 percent of the volume of cultivated (highbush) blueberries represented in the referendum.
As required by the USDA, the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council must complete a formal program evaluation every five years. Results of the second USHBC evaluation published in 2010, based on data from 2005 to 2009, continued to be positive with results in 2010 exceeding findings from 2005 in each area of evaluation.
The objective of this independent evaluation is to determine the domestic market impact of USHBC generic promotion programs, and to compute an average benefit-cost ratio (BCR) for the promotion activities conducted by the USHBC. The research examines whether the domestic promotion activities conducted by the USHBC have a positive and statistically significant impact on domestic shipments of blueberries and grower profits. The impact of all factors affecting domestic blueberry demand (where data is available) is measured statistically. In this way, the impact of other important factors affecting domestic demand is accounted for over time.
The results indicate that generic blueberry promotion by the USHBC has had a positive and statistically significant impact on blueberry demand as well as a positive impact on blueberry price and producer surplus (profits). The evaluation shows that the benefits of USHBC promotional activities continue to grow and benefits exceed costs.
Source: U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council