N.B. blueberry producers who couldn’t access land during wildfires can get financial help

In this July 27, 2012, file photo, wild blueberries await harvesting in Warren, Maine.

New Brunswick wild blueberry producers who couldn’t access Crown land during the wildfires in the province last August can now apply for financial assistance.

The provincial government shut down all Crown lands during the wildfires in August. They also banned all forest harvesting operations over safety concerns.

The province leases roughly 21,000 acres of Crown land for wild blueberry production. On Aug. 15, they allowed blueberry producers to apply for permits to harvest on those lands or use those lands to access their private fields.

“The 2025 Crown Land Wild Blueberry Compensation Program will provide financial assistance to eligible wild blueberry producers who sustained losses related to the closure of Crown land in August due to the wildfire risk,’’ said Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries Minister Pat Finnigan in a news release.

“Significant crop losses have created financial challenges for many producers, making timely support essential. We also continue to encourage producers to take advantage of available federal-provincial risk management programs, such as AgriInsurance and AgriStability.”

In an interview with CTV News Atlantic in October, Donald Arsenault, an executive with Bluets NB Blueberries, said New Brunswick typically producers an average of 68 million pounds of wild blueberries annually, but that number could be down by nearly 70 per cent this year due to the drought.

“We only have three-to-five weeks to harvest the crop, so if you take away two weeks, it makes it harder on our farmers,” Arsenault said.

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