Producers on the NSW north-coast are enjoying the fruits of their labour, with blueberries trumping bananas as the new money-making crop.
According to SMH, bananas had been the backbone of Coffs Harbour, home of the Big Banana, since the late 1880s, but now things have changed are farmers have embraced the tiny, anti-oxidant filled berry.
"Bananas are in my blood. [But] because bananas are not viable any more, we're diversifying into other crops," said Woolgoolga farmer, Paramjit Sidhu.
Australia's blueberry industry first beared fruit in the 1970s in Victoria but it wasn't until the US developed a variety adapted to warmer climates that it really took off.
In 2005, the farm-gate value of blueberries in Australia was $27 million annually – last year this grew to $87 million.
Eighty-eight percent of Australia's blueberry industry is on the NSW north-coast.