John Chilibeck
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Daily Gleaner
Graeme Weir is growing increasingly anxious as wildfire restrictions threaten to take a huge bite out of his blueberry harvest.
Weir and his family have owned McKay’s Wild Blueberries in Pennfield, with its popular roadside stand that sells pies, muffins and other treats, for close to 40 years.
Most of the berries he grows on hundreds of acres of privately owned land and Crown property he leases from the provincial government are ready to harvest.
But he can’t access about a quarter of his fields because the province ordered all commercial operations on public land to cease as of 12:01 a.m. on Sunday.
Authorities worry that hot machinery or careless workers could spark another wildfire.
As of Thursday, three wildfires in different parts of the province were out of control, the worst just north of Miramichi. No fires were reported in Charlotte County, home to McKay’s, but conditions everywhere in the province are bone dry following a heat wave.
“The ban is understandable because of the fire risk,” Weir said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen if we don’t get rain on Thursday. And if we do get the rain, but the province decides it wasn’t enough rain, and you still can’t go back on the land, that will be tough. This has never happened to us before during harvest.”
He’s one of 175 blueberry farmers across the province who are affected, just as the heralded fruit is ready to harvest in most places, in a picking season that only lasts six to eight weeks. As many as 1,500 pickers are also sidelined, not making any money or earning hours for employment insurance.
Blueberries NB, the agency representing farmers who cultivate at least two hectares of wild blueberries, is pushing for an exemption similar to the one in Nova Scotia.
Executive director Donald Arseneault – himself a former provincial Liberal minister of natural resources – says although New Brunswick’s neighbouring province was quicker last week to announce a 12-week ban on entering the woods, carrying a fine of $25,000, it also provided an exemption for blueberry farming.
Farmers in the Bluenose province can get a special permit to operate on public land if they put a water truck on standby, stop their workers from smoking and park vehicles on dirt or gravel, he said.
“The timing of these wildfires is devastating to the blueberry industry,” Arseneault said. “The majority of the land they use is on Crown land. So the decision made on Saturday to ban people from the woods is a tough one. The province has to consider the safety of communities and the economic impact. But we are working with the Department of Agriculture right now to put forward a list of measures that could mitigate risk.”
He said it was important to get people working again, as the pickers need the money badly in an industry that hauled in 60 to 85 million pounds of blueberries in each of the last several years, making New Brunswick the biggest producer in the Maritimes and second only to Quebec for the total haul worldwide.
The blueberry industry contributes about $30 million a year to the provincial economy.
John Herron, the minister of natural resources, told Brunswick News on Wednesday morning he was aware of the request and that a solution could be in place in the coming days. He noted that given the harvest was ready, time was of the essence.
“It won’t be cheap,” he warned. “We would want farmers to have a vehicle loaded with water as they pick. These are finer details that need to be worked out.”
Weir hopes it happens soon. He said not being able to even access the land he leases poses a problem because he can’t check to see if there are pests or other issues.
And he said many people who own private blueberry fields can’t access them because they need to use Crown roads to get there, all of them cut off.
The property of one of his neighbours in Charlotte County, a fellow blueberry farmer, is bi-sected by an old abandoned railroad, a 20foot strip of land that’s owned by the provincial government.
“He was told by DNR if he crosses the railroad track he’s liable for a $25,000 fine. So he can’t harvest his crop on the other side,” he said. “Hopefully some adjustments can be made to the rules.”
