In this Wednesday, July 17, 2013 photo, Grace Katherine James, 9, picks ripe blueberries off a branch in the pick-your-own field at Foxbrier Farm, in Chattahoochee Hill Country, Ga. While Georgia is officially known as the Peach State, blueberry production has eclipsed the state's production of peaches. Federal surveys show the value of Georgia's blueberry production surpassed that of peaches in 2005, and the gap continues to grow.

ATLANTA — What is the most valuable fruit crop produced in the Peach State?

This is not a trick question, but you may want to pause a second before answering.

Ready? It's the blueberry.

Georgia is famous as a major producer of the peach, the fuzzy fruit whose image appears on state license plates, “welcome to Georgia” billboards and on road signs. When driving in the capital city of Atlanta, you can pass the corner of Peachtree Street and Peachtree Center Avenue, just one block from West Peachtree Street.

There's just one problem: Blueberries are Georgia's most lucrative fruit crop, by far.

In a little-noticed development, the value of blueberry production in Georgia beat the peach crop in 2005 — and the gap has grown even bigger since then, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture surveys.

Blueberries generated an estimated $94 million for Georgia growers in 2012, meaning the blueberry crop was more than three times as valuable as the nearly $30 million peach crop.

Blueberries used to make up a relatively small percentage of the state's fruit crop. But major blueberry producers, particularly in Michigan, were searching for ways to get berries on the supermarket shelves earlier in the year. They signed deals with growers in Georgia since the state starts harvesting its berries in April, ahead of all other producers except Florida and California, said Scott Nesmith, a horticulturist at the University of Georgia.

Other climate factors help, too. While blueberry-killing frosts are possible in Georgia, they are not frequent.