Our blueberry crop deserves better protection
I am floored by the seemingly lackadaisical reaction of our federal and provincial governments to the news recently that blueberry plants from Quebec infected with the blueberry maggot have been sold in this province through Costco.
Can you imagine the outcry if a potato or potato plant from this province was found in the Maritimes or Quebec to be infected with the potato wart or nematode?
Over two decades, my consulting company has conducted several studies of Newfoundland’s blueberry industry, including industry organization, product promotion and sales and marketing of local blueberries. We found significant and viable market opportunities for our producers to sell fresh wild Newfoundland blueberries in Western Canada, New England and in parts of western Europe, such as Iceland. A few years ago, we arranged for Canada’s two leading retailers to offer sizable sales contact for fresh local berries to be sold in the Maritime provinces towards the end of our growing season. However, our provincial government of the time appeared more interested in spending millions developing a cranberry industry than helping local growers capitalize on national and international sales opportunities for blueberries.
The Newfoundland wild blueberry is a prime product which is not affected by the blueberry maggot. In fact, only a couple of areas in North America, such as Vancouver Island and the island of Newfoundland, are maggotfree. Vigilance has prevented the blueberry maggot from entering this province over recent decades.
However, while the federal government spends many taxpayers’ dollars each year inspecting and washing down vehicles travelling by ferry from Argentia and Port aux Basques to North Sydney in order to prevent Newfoundlandborn potato diseases from reaching the mainland, we wonder why the same concern is not shown over mainland plant diseases coming to this province — and especially the blueberry maggot.
The latest Costco fiasco demonstrates we are vulnerable, and you would think our federal and provincial ministers of agriculture, the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture and our local MPS and MHAS would all be up in arms urging the federal government to initiate measures to protect our disease-free blueberries. It seems that Newfoundland horticulturalists/biologists like Michael Murray and Peter Scott are issuing dire warnings, but governments appear satisfied to let Costco handle the plant recall and give customers their money back if they return the infected plants to the store. This is cavalier and irresponsible and you would not see Maritime or Quebec potato industry leaders taking such a backseat position if the situation were reversed.
We expect better from our governments. The protection of Newfoundland blueberries should be at least as important as protecting mainland potatoes.
Chris Palmer Bauline