Fresh, local blueberries are now available in stores across New Brunswick but producers say this year will not be a bumper crop.
A severe frost in June of last year damaged many blueberry fields and it is still having an impact.
Bleuets NB Blueberries (BNBB) vice-chair Ed Goguen notes how any given field is harvested every second year and the long-term effects from frost damage are still being assessed.
“About 60 million pounds is probably an average crop for the acreage that we have in production now. It’s been growing very, very quickly particularly in the northeastern part of the province,” he notes.
Goguen says the blueberry harvest is now well underway in southern and central New Brunswick while it is just getting started up north.
In the last few years, Goguen adds New Brunswick has surpassed Nova Scotia as the largest blueberry producer in Atlantic Canada and also produces more than the state of Maine.
