She has a serious error in the 400 ton figure. (Could it actually be 400,000 tons?). A very old source, http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/Resources/PDFs/CIS0932.pdf but in 1989 US production was 68 million pounds lowbush, 150 million pounds (75000 tons) highbush. In 2007, from another source, low bush was 75 million pounds on 66700 acres, most of it from Maine, not a large increase.. As highbush is the cultivated, commercial variety, it is conceivable it could have grown to 400,000 tons, but I have not found a confirming figure. It would, of course, be nice if they used the same unit; otherwise it is like comparing oranges and apples. :)
--- On Tue, 8/4/09, James R. Frysinger <[email protected]> wrote: From: James R. Frysinger <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:45491] Counting blueberries To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Cc: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, August 4, 2009, 9:52 AM An article on FoxNews.com addresses blueberry production in the U.S. The article, written by Elena Ferretti contains this: "According The US Highbush Blueberry Council, North America produced more than 400 tons of highbush blueberries in 2008. The majority are grown in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, New Jersey and Michigan, though they can be found in 38 states. Lowbush blueberries accounted for just 75 million pounds, but not due to a lack of popularity." http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,536311,00.html >From her text, I would infer that highbush production vastly exceeds lowbush >production. But the numbers say otherwise. Of course, good writing style would have been to use the same unit of measure for the two production figures. Apparently Ms. Ferretti either has made some typographic error in reporting the two quantities or she is innumerate and incapable of relating pounds and tons. The factor needed is 2000, which is not terribly hard to deal with. I suspect that if the two quantities were given in metric tons (tonnes) and kilograms respectively, where the relevant factor is 1000, Ms. Ferretti would still have a problem relating the two. We who push metrication must recognize that there will always be people who cannot multiply or divide by 1000 (or by 10 or by 100); often, it's a matter of which (multiply or divide) to do. Unfortunately, FoxNews.com website does not make it easy to send feedback to the person or department needing comment. The above address is one of the very few email addresses I have found so far on their website. I found nothing for the "Leisure" site at FoxNews.com nor for their "Food-and-Drink" site. Perhaps the folks at the above address will forward this to Ms. Ferretti and her editor--or perhaps not. Jim -- James R. Frysinger 632 Stony Point Mountain Road Doyle, TN 38559-3030 (C) 931.212.0267 (H) 931.657.3107 (F) 931.657.3108
