Senator Angus King and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree have written to the US Department of Agriculture to urge the federal government to buy 18 million pounds of frozen Maine wild blueberries to use in school lunch and emergency food assistance programs.

"Not only are frozen wild blueberries a nutritious addition to school meals or emergency food programs, but USDA purchases also stabilize the price for growers who face challenges from domestic oversupply and international competition," they wrote. "Wild blueberries are an inherently fragile product; over 99% of the crop is frozen at harvest. This puts Maine in a position of being highly financially dependent on the strength of the frozen blueberry market."

The 2014 wild blueberry harvest in Maine was reportedly the second highest on record, with crops yielding about 20% more fresh blueberries than in an average year. Over the last few years, production of blueberries in the United States and Canada has increased significantly, but since sales of fresh blueberries has not kept pace, a surplus of frozen blueberries has developed. King and Pingree say that federal purchases of blueberries will address that oversupply as well as providing a popular, nutritious ingredient for school meals and other federal feeding programs.

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