Highbush blueberry only recently became popular in Ukraine. Increasing demand stimulated establishment of new plantations around Ukraine. However, lack of experience and knowledge resulted in low yields, poor quality of berries and overall poor performance of many growers.

In cooperation with the Agriculture and Rural Development Support (ARDS) program sponsored by USAID, Agricultural Extension Center Bridges organized a series of trainings and consulting assignments focusing on efficient and profitable blueberry production that included agronomy, marketing, economics, business planning, post harvest handing and many other relevant issues for the growers. Agricultural Extension center BRIDGES utilized both top American and Ukrainian experts with significant experience in the field that have been working with blueberry plantations in the US that are over 40 years of age.