Low prices to cause huge losses for Nova Scotia blueberry growers
Market growth hasn’t kept up with three years of bumper crops and now the industry is facing a cruel irony — being crushed by too many of its own berries.
“There will be bankruptcies,” said Jeff Orr, a grower who owns and harvests 100 acres of fields in Cumberland and Guysborough counties.
“The greatest risk is to the younger farmers and new entrants who carry the biggest debt loads.”
Some still remain optimistic about the recovery of the industry, Neri Vatour, executive director of the Canadian branch of the Wild Blueberry Association of North America being one of them.
“We’re going to get out of this situation quicker than most people think. I don’t think it’ll be five years. I think we’re looking at less than two years," he said.
There are a couple of factors working to bolster Vautour’s argument.
Starting Sept. 21, a 17-per-cent tariff on value-added products headed to Europe will end, due to the new Canada-EU trade deal.
Canadian blueberries entering China are slapped with a 30-per-cent tariff and negotiations are underway for a trade deal with the biggest market on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
Meanwhile, the worldwide market for berries, fresh and frozen, continues to grow slowly.
Finally, estimates are that the harvest will be back down to around 300 million pounds this year.
Read more at thechronicleherald.ca
