According to the German Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture (BLE), consumers in Germany purchased approximately 76,000 tonnes of blueberries during the 2024/2025 economic year, averaging about 900 grams per person.
Domestic production has failed to keep pace with this rising consumption. According to the Federal Information Centre for Agriculture (BZL), German farms harvested roughly 17,000 tonnes of blueberries, forcing the country to import about 80 percent of its supply. A report from the Centre for the Promotion of Imports (CBI), an agency of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, identifies Germany as the European market with the largest potential for blueberry imports due to its high and rapidly growing demand, importing roughly 65,000 tonnes in 2023.
Desert Agriculture and Water Diverting in Peru
Most commercial blueberries sold in supermarkets are cultivated varieties that yield larger fruit and allow for mechanical harvesting compared to wild forest blueberries. While European neighbors supply a portion of these imports, Peru has emerged as a primary export hub, cultivating blueberries across more than 20,000 hectares primarily for international shipping.
Investigative reporting by ARD and ZDF’s foreign affairs format “Atlas” reveals that these large-scale farms operate directly within the Peruvian desert. To sustain crops in these arid conditions, agricultural operators rely heavily on artificial irrigation. According to the “Atlas” documentary, water is sourced in part from an engineered river diversion project that redirects water originating in the Andes westward toward the Pacific Ocean rather than eastward toward the Atlantic. A spokesperson for Peru’s national water authority confirmed the existence of this diversion infrastructure in a separate broadcast by German broadcaster SWR.
ARD correspondent Matthias Ebert characterizes the infrastructure as a massive intervention in nature. While the expansion has created local agricultural jobs, small-scale farmers living east of the Andes and within the Peruvian cultivation regions report severe water shortages. SWR reporting notes that irrigation canals preferentially supply large agribusiness firms while cutting off smaller independent farmers from essential water access.
Import Emissions and Chemical Treatments
Transporting fresh fruit over 10,000 kilometers from South America to Europe requires lengthy maritime shipping voyages lasting approximately three weeks. According to consumer protection broadcasts by SWR’s “Marktcheck,” these extended transport times necessitate the application of antifungal treatments to prevent spoilage during transit, with testing occasionally detecting residual pesticide traces on imported berries.
Environmental Parallels to the Avocado Boom
The supply chain pressures and water scarcity surrounding Peruvian blueberry production mirror the environmental impacts associated with the global avocado boom of the 2010s. Both fruit industries capitalized on health-oriented food trends, driving intensive irrigation practices in water-stressed regions of Latin America.
Unlike avocados, which require subtropical climates, blueberries can thrive in European soils across countries like Germany, Poland, and France.