June 25, 2020

Now that our bloom and pollination have come to an end, we’re delighted to provide you with a brief overview of North America’s 2020 wild blueberry crop.

Firstly, we had favorable winter weather conditions in Quebec, with sufficient snow to protect the plants. No winter kill to report in our region.

All-in-all, our pollination appears to have gone well. We had a frost scare on June 14th, but there seems to have been little damage, thankfully. In Atlantic Canada and Maine, there were some local pollination issues as well as spotty frost. The extent of the damage remains to be determined but does not appear to be widespread.

Going forward, we need plentiful rainfall since we don't irrigate. It has been very dry in Quebec and recent temperatures have gone above 33C / 92F. While excellent news for the final days of the bloom, longer term this could create problems if we don’t get rain before end June. Currently, due to the extreme heat & dry weather, there are forest fires in Quebec, the most serious being in the Lac St. Jean region, which is Quebec’s wild blueberry country. Growing regions outside Quebec are also said to be dry and will require rain. Some areas in Atlantic Canada are reportedly very dry with little or no rain for several weeks already.

Sufficient rainfall is the single biggest issue after the end of the bloom.

Our industry needs an excellent crop. Inventory levels are at their lowest since 2014. Under these conditions, we will be waiting until we are very clear on the crop size before we make any offers this season. Without any inventory to fall back on, we have no cushion so we must be particularly cautious.

Based on the current supply & demand outlook, customers can expect prices to be relatively firm, especially since Eastern European bilberry (vac. myrtillus) inventories are also said to be at a low level.

Our harvest will start sometime during the first two weeks of August and typically lasts about four weeks.