A late frost has ruined much of the crop for blueberry producers in Nova Scotia – and to make matters worse, many of them lack insurance to cover the losses.
Wild Blueberry Producers Association of Nova Scotia executive director Peter Rideout explained that the recent drop in temperatures unexpectedly came after days of warm weather, which encouraged blueberry blossoms to open up.
“The bloom became more advanced over a couple days, and those sensitive tissues at the base of those little blossoms [are] very sensitive to cold,” Rideout told CBC News. “Some large-producing, long-established fields are showing almost total damage to the blossoms.”
He added that although most commercial blueberry producers have fields in different parts of the province and have avoided a total loss, it’s still “very serious for all of them.”
The damage follows two years of low blueberry prices, at a time when costs of production outstripped what producers were able to get for their crops.
“Our farmers were going into this season … in a hard situation,” Rideout explained.
About a third of the farmers in the province participate in the federal-provincial crop insurance program; the rest are unable to due to the high costs, Rideout said. Moreover, the payouts for the insurance program are based on revenues from the previous year, which means that those claiming for the recent damages may not get a lot due to low revenue.
Rideout confirmed with CBC that he had already been in discussions with the province on ways to help blueberry producers in the region recover, even before the frost.
“We’ve been in immediate contact with our stakeholders in the industry, including growers and farmers who are seeing impacts,” the Department of Agriculture said in a recent statement. “We have a strong relationship with our industry and will continue to work closely with them as we determine the extent of the impacts they are facing, and how we can help them mitigate those impacts.”
“Unfortunately, with our climate, this is not unusual for growers, and there is a suite of risk management programs available,” the department said, referring to the federal program.
