In San Bartolomé, Gran Canaria, you can find a 28-hectare blueberry plantation. This fruit, typically grown in northern Europe, has been produced on the island for eight years and is largely unknown to many islanders, despite covering an area equivalent to 28 football fields.
The company, S&A Canblues SL, was launched in 2016 by the British group S&A and the Canary Islands Bonny. According to David Ortega, the company's Quality Manager, the aim was to introduce the cultivation of common blueberries on the island to "explore new productions." The company started with a few plants and now has 28 hectares with 115,000 pots distributed in eleven greenhouses, with plans for further expansion.
Flowering begins in October and the first fruits appear in December. Each plant yields about 2.5 kilos of fruit, which can be harvested up to ten times during the five-month blueberry season. Production has been increasing since the fruit was first planted, reaching 220 tons in 2023. This year, Ortega estimates that around 250 tons of the evergreen variety of blueberries will be produced. 10% of the harvest stays on the islands for local distribution, while 90% is exported to the United Kingdom and then distributed to countries such as Germany, The Netherlands, and France.
Source: blueberriesconsulting.com