Wild blueberries in Pictou County took a battering from the heavy frost on June 3-4, which caused widespread damage to crops in locations such as Mt. Thom.
Frost struck across the province just as fields in northern Nova Scotia were approaching the critical full-bloom stage, according to the Wild Blueberry Producers Association of Nova Scotia.
More than 60 per cent of the province’s 41,500 acres of wild blueberry land is located in Cumberland and Colchester counties, with other major production areas across northern Nova Scotia including Pictou County, the central region, Cape Breton Island and the southwest.
“The damage has been very widespread,” said executive director Peter Rideout. “We’re [still] hopeful. We won’t really have a full picture for a week or two.”
While cold air that causes frost often settles in valleys and spares areas with higher elevations, fields in locations like Mt. Thom were not spared this time.
The WBPA sent its specialist Peter Burgess into the field after the frost to assess the damage in Pictou County and elsewhere. So far, the signs are not good.
“He’s finding serious frost damage across all of those [locations},” said Rideout.
The frost came at a time the industry is climbing out of two years of rock-bottom prices and financial hardship for producers, who finally enjoyed a strong bloom with good crop potential in their fields this year.
The WBPA says the industry needs immediate help to avoid financial collapse for its more than 1,000 producers across the province, as the combination of repeated poor prices and the frost has “created a disaster for this important industry.”
Nova Scotia’s wild blueberry industry is a major driver of the province’s rural economy. It harvested more than 50 million pounds of fruit in 2017. Wild blueberries are one of the province’s most important agricultural exports, with export sales of $65.9 million in 2017 to the United States and more than 30 other countries in both Europe and Asia.
However, if the frost damage to crops is severe, many producers may not even bother to harvest their fields come fall, as it is an expensive process.
