Blueberry growers looking for sunshine

Blueberry growers such as Russell Weir of Pennfield will keep an eye on the weather reports over the next few days. A few days of sunshine to make the berries grow could make all the difference in the size of the crop that he and more than 300 commercial producers in New Brunswick will begin harvesting within a week.

« It’s going to be less than last year, » Weir said Monday, talking about the yield on more than 28,000 acres, or 13,000 hectares, of blueberries mostly in the northeast, southwest and southeast of New Brunswick.

« Last year was a big, big record crop. »

New Brunswick will likely harvest 28 million to 30 million pounds of blueberries this year, down from last year’s 33.5 million pounds but still a good crop, said Michel Melanson, blueberry and bee specialist for the provincial Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture.

Wet weather during the three weeks that blueberry plants flower in late May and early June hurt pollination by wild bees, Melanson said. « Spring pollination was just mediocre. » Besides that, there were not as many honey bees available as the growers needed to produce a really record crop.

Weir does not know how his crop will measure compared to last year. The rain and the lack of bees will affect his berries the same as everybody else, but he suffered only about a quarter of the loss from deer last winter as he did the previous winter. A heavy load of snow stayed on his 1,000 acres of blueberries last winter, protecting them from deer.

« But the crop is not as good as the previous summer, anyway, » he said. Balancing the snow and deer against the rain and bees, he might rake more berries than last year – especially if he gets a few hot, sunny days this week. Environment Canada forecasts sun, cloud and rain over the next few days.

A good crop will not necessarily leave him better off financially because buyers still have inventory from last year’s bumper crop to market, Weir said. The buyers have yet to announce their prices. Blueberry growers harvest half their acreage each year, leaving the other half to sprout and produce a crop the following year.

From 55 to 60 per cent of the New Brunswick commercial blueberry crop comes from the northeast part of the province, 25 to 30 per cent from the southwest from Sussex westward into Charlotte County, and most of the rest in Albert, Westmorland and Kent counties, Melanson said.

New Brunswick has increased its blueberry acreage over the past few years, which partly explains lower per acre yields. A new field might produce 500 pounds per acre, increasing to 1,200 to 1,300 pounds two years later, then to 2,000 pounds two years after that.

Setting hives to let domestic honey bees assist their wild cousins can increase yields to 2,500 to 3,000 pounds per acre, Melanson said. New Brunswick produced an average of 23 million pounds of blueberries per year for the past five years, Melanson said.

The yield per acre will drop from last year, but the acreage will increase. A new field does not immediately produce berries like a mature field, « but we going to be higher than 23 million pounds. »

Growers mow a blueberry field after harvesting it to prepare it to produce the next crop two years away. Growers burn fields every six to eight years to kill pests. They add fertilizer to produce bigger crops, and cut bushes that grow up, especially after burning.

New Brunswick blueberry growers today use harvesting machines to bring in most of their crop, but hand rakers still pick 4,000 to 5,000 acres the old-fashioned way, Melanson said. A grower must use earth-moving machinery to level fields for mechanical harvesters to work on them, Melanson said. A leveled field then takes several years to recover its productivity.

Some growers will hire hand rakers to harvest leveled fields – if they can find them, Melanson said. Besides 500 acres of his own that he will harvest this year, Weir will contract to harvest 200 to 300 acres for other growers. He harvests about two-thirds of this acreage with the machine, but employs all the hand rakers he can get with backs strong enough for it.

The blueberry harvest runs through August and into September – traditionally providing income for students and their families just before school opens. After Labour Day a smaller crew has to complete the harvest, probably using the machines. Weir has six different areas that hand rakers harvest, with crews numbering from 10 to 40.

« As long as people are willing to work, I am willing to provide work for them, » Weir said. « We’ll be raking within a week. »

Source : Telegraph Journal