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Banner Season So Far For New Jersey Blueberry Growers

By Paul Kurtz

HAMMONTON, N.J. (CBS) -- New Jersey blueberry growers are enjoying a sizeable harvest as they head into peak season.

Field hands are now out in full force plucking fresh blueberries off the bushes, and the production house at Atlantic Blueberries, one of the biggest producers in Hammonton, is buzzing these days.

"I'm pushing somewhere around 700," says general manager Denny Doyle. "We're trying to get after this thing as fast as we can."

New Jersey growers are rebounding from a dismal 2012 season that was wrecked by stormy weather.

2013 has seen a gorgeous spring overall, but a very wet June that has produced some challenges.

"How we're combating that is, you know, we're waiting it out and picking a later in the evening," Doyle says, "but we are getting through it."

Doyle is hoping this year's crop will rival that of 2011, which saw 62-million pounds of blueberries spill out of the Garden State.

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