Researchers at the University of Georgia won a $2.37 million grant from the USDA to develop technology to help small to mid-size blueberry growers.

During the harvesting process, a lot of blueberries get squashed. Machines do their best, but a lot of the time, they leave something to be desired.

You know, the quality’s not very good,” says Changying “Charlie” Li. “They usually cannot be sold as a fresh market fruit in a grocery store or a supermarket.”

So the damaged blueberries get relegated to processed foods – like blueberry muffins.

Li is an associate professor at the University of Georgia’s College of Engineering. He’s leading a national project with 10 universities to build a semi-mechanical harvester that is gentle on the blueberries.

To help him do that, he developed a Berry Impact Recording Device. It’s a small ball with an electronic chip.

It travels with other blueberries to measure all of the damage they’re subjected to as they move through a packing plant. He expects a prototype will be ready by the end of this year.

The other universities involved are also located in major blueberry producing states. They include the University of Florida, Michigan State University, Mississippi State University, North Carolina State University, Oregon State University and Penn State.