Naturipe, a farmer-owned producer and marketer of premium berries, announced it is kicking off a "New Era of Berries" with its annual FeBLUEary campaign, highlighting the peak winter season for Naturipe’s conventional and organic blueberries.

The company indicates that improved quality of berries, ramped-up innovation in breeding, growing, and packaging, and increased prioritization of sustainability throughout the business is celebrated during this period.

This FeBLUEary, as the company names this promotion stage, berries will primarily come from Naturipe growers in Chile and will be supplemented by blueberries from Mexico and Peru.

"Regardless of their origin, this year’s blueberry crop has exceptional quality, thanks to Naturipe’s leadership in breeding and growing techniques," says the company in a release.

“Each year, we celebrate FeBLUEary to mark the first peak of Naturipe’s blueberry growing seasons,” says Jim Roberts, president of sales at Naturipe. “The heart-health benefits of blueberries are top of mind for people at the beginning of the year and our growers have worked to ensure that when shoppers head into their local grocery store, these delicious and good-for-you berries will be the best fresh fruit they’ll find. Retailers and consumers will be thrilled to celebrate FeBLUEary.”

Additionally, retailers can feature Naturipe Strawberries, as they will be coming into promotable volumes a little early this year. Strawberries are synonymous with a favorite February holiday, Valentine’s Day, and retailers will be able to capitalize on the strong holiday demand for these berries.

 To ramp up incremental sales of these shopper-favorite berries, Naturipe recommends that retailers activate friendly sales competitions between stores, and in-store recipe demos with recipe cards available for shoppers to take home.

Additionally, retailers can promote FeBLUEary on their social media accounts.

FeBLUEary’s peak volumes and top quality result from the work and growing practices implemented by Naturipe’s growers. 

“We’ve been laying the foundation for the New Era of Berries for a long time, and FeBLUEary is the perfect way to kick off our efforts with the industry formally,” says Roberts. “The care that our growers put into their fresh fruit, combined with the commitment to breeding high-quality berries and introducing innovative sustainability practices, is what the new era of berries is all about.”