HAWTHORNE, Fla. (AP) - When you think of Florida fruit, oranges,

grapefruit and strawberries come to mind. But blueberries?

     Hundreds of small blueberry farms have opened in the Sunshine

State in the past three decades, and blueberry production has

increased more than tenfold in the past decade. The farmers hope to

capitalize on their climate by providing fresh blueberries when

their competitors in the North can't. Florida produces only a

fraction of the blueberries that industry leader Michigan does, but

from mid-March to mid-April, its farmers dominate the market.

     "It's just unbelievable how this thing has changed," said Ken

Patterson, who owns the Island Grove Farm, one of Florida's oldest

blueberry farms. "Twenty years ago, when we held a Florida

Blueberry Growers Association meeting we'd have 40 to 50 people at

a good meeting. In November, we expect 400 people there."

     Patterson, who was once a funeral director, has more than 150

acres filled with 6-foot-tall blueberry bushes in Hawthorne and

nearly 200 acres of blueberries some 200 miles south in Arcadia.

There are so many blueberry farms in the area just east of

Gainesville that Patterson and other growers opened a

27,000-square-foot packing and distribution plant last year.

     Their bushes will begin to bloom in January, and the fruit will

be harvested by hand a couple of months later. Their harvest, from

mid-March to mid-April, comes in a short, yet important, window for

grocery stores, which strive to keep fresh blueberries on their

shelves year-round. Russ Benblatt, executive marketing coordinator

for Whole Foods, wrote in an email that the arrangement benefits

farmers, grocers and consumers.

     "This way, those sweet Florida berries can be enjoyed by our

customers around the country before the season starts elsewhere,"

he said. "And the relationship is reciprocal; when the Florida

season ends, we know that our global buyers are working with teams

in other regions to make sure that berries from around the country

can be enjoyed here in the summer when very little can grow in the

intense Florida heat."

     Florida's strawberry and tomato growers have used a similar

growing season to briefly dominate the market by shipping fresh

produce nationwide when most U.S. farms are dormant. Blueberries

remain a much smaller crop for Florida farmers - worth $47 million

last year compared to the $362 million produced in strawberries,

according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture - but it's growing.

     "From everything that I've seen consumer demand just continues

to go up and up," said Lisa Lochridge, spokeswoman for the Florida

Fruit and Vegetable Association.

     Farmers like Patterson say demand for blueberries has grown

along with attention to its health benefits. Nutritionists say all

fruits and vegetables are good for you, and some studies suggest

blueberries are particularly beneficial.

     Wild blueberries grew in Florida before Native Americans settled

there, and the first commercial blueberry plantations in the U.S.

were likely established in there in the late 1800s, said Paul

Lyrene, a horticulture professor at the University of Florida. The

industry declined in the 1920s when customers in northern states

stopped buying the blueberries that they considered low in quality.

     "Florida blueberries soon earned the reputation of being small,

gritty-fleshed and lacking in flavor," Lyrene wrote in a

scientific journal. Sales continued to drop during the Depression

in the 1930s.

     Fifty years later, University of Florida researchers began

developing Florida-friendly varieties of highbush berries, the term

generally used for cultivated blueberries. Wild berries, like those

common in Maine, are called lowbush.

     The new varieties were sweeter, tastier and more consistent in

size than the berries produced earlier in Florida, Lyrene said.

They were hardier - which meant easier shipping, and most

importantly, they could withstand warm weather.

     By 2000, Florida farmers saw a way to diversify and take

advantage of consumer demand - although they don't ever expect to

rival the big growers in Michigan, Maine and New Jersey.

     Blueberries are expensive to grow, costing about $20,000 an acre

to plant. And, Florida varieties produce only 4 to 5 pounds of

berries per bush, while Northern bushes can yield up to 20 pounds

of fruit.

     Still, the season gives Florida farmers an advantage by limiting

their competition, and they sell all their fruit fresh - which

commands a higher price than berries sold to be frozen or processed

into juice or other foods. Dole Food Co., the world's largest

producer and marketer of fresh fruit, saw enough of an opportunity

there that it announced last month it was buying Florida-based

Sunny Ridge Farm, one of the nation's largest fresh blueberry

companies.

     Florida farmers' biggest competition comes from overseas,

particularly Chile. The U.S. imported more than 156 million pounds

of fresh blueberries last year; nearly half were from Chile. In

comparison, Florida will harvest about 20 million pounds this

growing season.

     But Bill Braswell, president of the Florida Blueberry Grower's

Association, said he's confident because Florida blueberries are

delivered fresher.

     "Look at the label," said Braswell, a former Delta airline

pilot who now raises blueberries in central Florida. "Instead of

getting a 4-week-old blueberry, you're getting a 3-day-old

blueberry from Florida."

     Braswell's latest project is an indicator of his peers' success:

The first Florida Blueberry Festival will be held in May.