Putting the IT in Fruit: What small businesses can learn from blueberry farmers
Sharon Prosser
Vice President, SMB Sales and Scaled Acquisition, Google Cloud
With just one data analyst, the North American Blueberry Council still managed to build a modern data platform serving thousands of members.
The blueberry industry surpassed $9 billion across North America in 2024, growing more than 6% year-over-year. Agriculture is known for being a difficult business, especially for the many small to medium-sized businesses that make up farming cooperatives. To ensure a bountiful year—whether on the farm, in your shop, at the practice, or in your home office—having the right data and technology can be as important as the tools in your shed.
The North American Blueberry Council (NABC) represents thousands of growers, processors, and brokers. Many face a challenge common to smaller businesses: How do you move from manual, intuition-driven decisions to fast, data-powered insights, without a big IT team or budget?
NABC was able to modernize operations for its members with just one data analyst — Joe Vargas, the Director of Business Intelligence — leading the charge for the entire organization. Using BigQuery and Looker from Google Cloud, Vargas found he could help deliver outsized results on a lean budget.
One of the most important considerations for NABC members was being able to monitor and respond to fast-changing market conditions in the often volatile agriculture market. “We recognized the need to better understand what the data reveals about domestic supply and demand,” Vargas said.
Vargas recently shared details about the NABC’s successful cloud transition and what other small- to medium-sized businesses can learn from his organization’s work.
1. One-person team, industry-wide impact
NABC’s data transformation was led by a single analyst—proof that lean teams can drive great change. Using Looker, Google Cloud’s business intelligence platform, and other AI-powered tools, Vargas automated reporting and turned data into weekly reports, which could be shared as LinkedIn articles or through other communication channels.
Now, NABC is expanding its platform with weather data from Google Earth Engine and IoT crop sensors, making it easy to integrate new tech like GoPro cameras and autonomous four-wheelers that deliver the field-level data needed to help blueberry growers understand the market and invest confidently for sustainable growth. These rapid, scalable improvements are all thanks to the strong foundation provided by Looker.
2. Building a unified data platform on a budget
NABC was initially working with multiple data and content providers before adopting Looker and Bytecode IO to form their open analytics platform. The result: BerrySmart Insights Fresh, a platform that ingests crop and production data from top suppliers like Family Tree Farms, Wish Farms, and North Bay Produce.
This unified data delivers insights that help blueberry growers and suppliers better understand market dynamics like buying habits, regional demand shifts, and the most effective packaging and price points. To further improve the user experience, strengthen authentication, and deliver better insights, the BerrySmart Insights Fresh platform then migrated its data warehouse to BigQuery, connected to Looker. This new unified data platform reduced storage and compute costs by 90% and delivered 40% faster query performance.
We built this entire system with Looker, which was super cool. Another vendor quoted this project at nearly $100,000, so we realized huge savings.
Joe Vargas, Director of Business Intelligence, NABC
3. The power and freedom of self-service dashboards
NABC took data accessibility to the next level with a user-friendly data layer built on LookML, the language used in Looker for semantic data modeling. This delivered clear definitions and KPIs, along with secure, role-based access, that means members—from shippers to suppliers—see only the insights they need. With third-party product React and Looker Embedded, the team built a custom app that tailors the experience for each member. Customized, user-focused dashboards like these can make data exploration far easier by removing technical barriers and presenting information in a more consolidated way.
4. Delivering targeted insights with custom apps
NABC built six custom apps to deliver insights where and when they matter. For example, one app provides color-coded maps, tariff details, and chemical residue info to help export teams make informed decisions at a glance. With Looker Embedded and AI-powered tools like Orion, an AI-powered data analytics tool designed to work with Looker, NABC automated weekly reporting and content creation, freeing up time and enabling smarter, faster decisions.
We have our one scalable source of truth. Now we can just bring in more technologies like AI to help blueberry growers and suppliers use that data to better understand the market and know where to invest so they can drive steady growth for years to come.
Joe Vargas, Director of Business Intelligence, NABC
5. Enhancing the website experience
Following these wins, NABC is rebuilding its BerrySmart Insights Fresh application to be powered by BigQuery, giving members deeper insights, a smoother experience, and stronger security—all on one Google platform. With Looker Explore Assistant enabled, members can ask questions and instantly generate charts and reports in natural language, without requiring steep technical skills.
While it can take an entire team of workers to get a job done in the field, NABC proved that a single platform can empower an entire industry—making the work of thousands of people more effective. No matter how big, small, or complex your team is, there’s a Google Cloud service ready to do some heavy lifting.
