NABC Awards

Blueberry Hall of Fame Award

The NABC Hall of Fame Award is a new recognition that honors and celebrates blueberry leaders, growers, and suppliers who have made a lasting impact on the blueberry industry in North America. The award was established as the council’s and industry’s highest honor and is open to influential leaders both past and present.  

Nomination Eligibility
Nominations will be accepted from:
• Individuals in the blueberry industry.
• NABC’s Nomination Committee.
• NABC employees.

Evaluation Criteria Accomplishments must be centered around moving the blueberry industry forward.

Selection is based upon candidate attributes in leadership, collaboration, industry support, longevity, and innovation. The value of these contributions is the primary criterion.

Nominees must meet the following criteria:
• Impeccable character.
• Outstanding leadership impacting the blueberry industry.
• Noteworthy contributions.
• Appropriate recognition for achievements.

Examples of criteria:

• A strong presence in the industry, both as a leader and as a mentor.
• Innovator: Responsible for a major breakthrough in the industry’s prominence, relevance, or success.
• Pioneer: In production, marketing, or health research.
• Volunteer leadership: Years of dedicated service to the industry and a collaborative nature, with specific exceptional examples or traits cited.

The Duke Galletta Award

The Duke Galletta Award recognizes excellence in blueberry horticultural research.

Duke’s story is one of immigrant grit, agricultural vision and quiet scientific partnership; a man who started with five acres and a draft horse, and whose name now graces both a beloved blueberry variety enjoyed around the world and an award honoring the industry’s finest researchers.

The Man Behind the Legacy

Named in honor of S. Arthur “Duke” Galletta, an inaugural member of the NABC, Duke was a pioneering American blueberry farmer whose life’s work helped transform a modest family enterprise into one of the largest cultivated blueberry operations in the world — and left a permanent mark on the industry through a variety that still bears his name.

Duke was born to Gennaro Giovanni Galletta and Amalia Marina Ciardi, Italian immigrants who had made their way to Philadelphia after arriving in America in the late 19th century. Gennaro had come from San Marino, Sicily in 1892 at the age of 10, eventually settling in Philadelphia where he worked as a weaver. Duke was one of seven children and grew up as part of a close-knit, industrious immigrant family.

As a young man, Duke found work on Weymouth Road in Hammonton, New Jersey, at the Atlantic Company for the Culture of Cranberries, owned by Lester Collins. It was there that he first encountered blueberry cultivation — blueberry plants had been introduced to give the workers something to do between cranberry harvests. Galletta’s fascination with the crop quickly took hold. He learned everything he could about growing blueberries and persuaded his employer to hire his brother, Bill.

In 1935, barely in their 20s and fresh out of the Great Depression, the Galletta men pooled their resources and purchased five acres of land on 8th Street in Hammonton. They cleared it by hand, aided by a draft horse, and planted their first blueberry crop. That modest plot became the founding field of Atlantic Blueberry Company.

The venture was anything but easy in those early years. After expanding their holdings, the brothers bought additional land but had only three years to pay it off or forfeit their homes. The crop froze in both the first and second years. In the third year, the farm produced enough fruit to pay the entire debt. Their perseverance had paid off.

The brothers made their first sale – $3.02 worth of blueberries – on July 14, 1938, to J. Earle Roberts Fruit and Vegetable Distributor. Over the following decades, the family operation grew steadily. In 1946, the Galletta brothers acquired additional property on Creek Road, clearing new land with a surplus Army tank. In 1948, brother Ernie joined the company, and in 1949, Atlantic Blueberry Co. was formally incorporated after purchasing Lester Collins’ original cranberry company – completing a full circle from where Duke had first learned the trade.

Along with his brothers Anthony, Bill, Ernie and Al, Duke became one of five co-owners who guided the company through its most formative decades. Duke married Susan McCluskey and they had two daughters, Carol and Linda, and a son, Art, who would carry the family legacy forward. In 1984, the senior generation retired, passing ownership to the next generation. Art Galletta eventually became president, overseeing an operation that has grown to encompass over 1,300 acres across two New Jersey locations.

Duke’s influence extended well beyond the borders of his farm. He was an inaugural member of NABC and took a particular interest in varietal development. He worked closely and cooperatively with USDA plant breeders, opening Atlantic Blueberry’s land to serve as test plots for new varieties – a generosity that proved invaluable to the research program.

That partnership with the USDA bore remarkable fruit. When breeder Arlen Draper of the USDA-ARS developed a new highbush cultivar in Maryland in collaboration with the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, it was named in Duke’s honor upon its release in 1987. The “Duke” blueberry is today one of the most widely grown commercial blueberry varieties in the world – valued for its early ripening, large firm berries, disease resistance and exceptional transportability. It accounts for a significant share of American commercial blueberry production and has earned the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.

Nominees for the Duke Galletta Award:
• Have demonstrated leadership in research within the blueberry industry.
• Have contributed to the blueberry industry development.

Nominations are accepted from:
• Individuals in the blueberry industry.
• NABC’s Nomination Committee.
• NABC employees.

The Alex Wetherbee Award

The Alex Wetherbee Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the blueberry industry in marketing and promotion.

The Alex Wetherbee Award is given to those who look at a field and see a global market, who look at an obstacle and see an opportunity and, who, like Alex with a Cadillac full of berries, are willing to go the extra mile to put their industry on the map.

The Man Behind the Legacy 

The Alex Wetherbee Award recognizes individuals who demonstrate the same relentless innovation, visionary leadership and passion for agriculture that defined the life and career of Alex Wetherbee. A true founding father of the modern blueberry industry, Alex was a pioneer who didn’t just grow fruit, he shaped the entire landscape of how produce is packaged, marketed and distributed across the globe.

Before he revolutionized the blueberry market, Alex was already making headlines for his forward-thinking approach to agricultural packaging. In June 1959, Alex’s company, Jennings & Wetherbee (based out of Vincentown, New Jersey), was featured in The New York Times for introducing a “new twist” to the industry: boxed asparagus.

At a time when asparagus was still laboriously tied in bunches with red tape – a time-consuming and costly process – Alex partnered with the Continental Can Company to develop a waterproof paperboard container. This invention protected the delicate tips of the “grass,” withstood the constant watering required to keep produce fresh and allowed small farmers to pack their own crops to command better market prices. This spirit of disruptive, practical innovation would become the hallmark of his career.

In the early 1960s, a new blueberry variety called “Bluecrop” was introduced, and Alex saw an untapped empire. He recognized that to make blueberries a household staple, he needed to revolutionize how they were sold.

Ever the salesman, Alex promoted blueberries wherever and whenever he could. During the New Jersey harvest season, he would pack his old Cadillac to the brim with crates of blueberries and drive all the way down to Florida. Along the highway, he stopped at grocery stores, walking in with a handful of clamshells to personally convince managers to promote and market this vibrant blue fruit.

Alex’s hustle caught the attention of local growers at the Atlantic County Fruit Auction in Hammonton, New Jersey. Recognizing his unmatched talent for shipping and marketing, prominent local farmers (including John Bertino, Anthony Bertino and Tom DelRossi Sr.) asked Alex to sell for them exclusively. In 1963, this partnership birthed the Hammonton Blueberry Exchange – the first blueberry cooperative. By 1964, it evolved into Diamond Blues, known today as Diamond Blueberry Inc., one of the most respected names in the industry.

Alex’s ambition couldn’t be contained by state lines – or even oceans. He constantly pushed the boundaries of what was possible for agriculture. In the mid-1960s, Alex organized the first-ever air-freighted shipment of blueberries to Germany, proving that fresh American berries had a place on the world stage.

Throughout the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s, Alex realized that regional competition was counterproductive. He worked tirelessly to connect the distinct growing regions of New Jersey, Michigan, Maine and North Carolina.

By connecting these dots, Alex became a founding member of the NABC, a groundbreaking achievement that unified the industry and allowed growers to pool resources for national marketing and research assessments.

Alex believed that an educated retailer was his best asset. He spent decades teaching grocery chains about blueberry varieties, shelf-life management and the crucial timing of regional seasons. He championed industry self-assessments to fund the massive promotional campaigns that ultimately built the multi-million-dollar blueberry market we know today.

When Alex passed, his son, Tim Wetherbee, stepped into his father’s shoes, continuing the family tradition of leadership, promotion and dedication to the New Jersey agricultural community.

Nominees for the Alex Wetherbee Award: 
• Have contributed to the awareness and market success of blueberries. 
• Have demonstrated leadership and innovation in efforts to promote the blueberry industry. 

Nominations are accepted from: 
• Individuals in the blueberry industry.
• NABC’s Nomination Committee.
• NABC employees.