BC blueberry crop down 30%

BC Blueberry Council estimates point to a 30% reduction in this year’s harvest.

The council collected levies on 185 million pounds of berries last year. This year, it expects to collect levies on just 135 million pounds.

“Crops are estimated to be down approximately 30% due to various factors, including the [late June] heat dome event,” the council told Country Life in BC this week. “However, the official crop count won’t be known until the end of the year or early next year.”

While the majority of BC blueberries were harvested by early August, this summer’s heat waves proved to be an ongoing challenge. The latest heat wave in mid-August challenged growers of late-season varieties, with some considering an accelerated harvest to avoid the worst of the damage.

Close to 100 growers submitted notices of losses related to the summer’s high temperatures, with many also seeing the impacts of blueberry scorch virus. Some growers attributed the greater incidence of the disease to higher temperatures, which may have favoured its spread.

The blueberry council says it’s taking note of how environmental conditions are affecting growers and taking action, advocating for stronger business risk management programs as well as funding research aimed at improving industry resilience.

“As our industry continues to experience climate and weather-related events, the council is seeking ways to support the industry, from prevention to protection,” the council said in a statement.

Among the research initiatives are tarps that protect fruit from heat and breeding initiatives designed to produce locally adapted selections that provide protection against external factors.

Business risk management programs are a high priority for federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers, who were supposed to meet last week in Guelph. The meeting was pre-empted by the federal election call, however, and will not take place now until at least late October.

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19 hours ago

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1 day ago

Forty-six regions in BC are eligible to participate in the federal livestock tax deferral program, announced yesterday, more than anywhere else in the country. The program allows producers who downsize their breeding herds by 15% to defer reporting the proceeds until the following year, when they buy replacement stock. But after multiple years of drought, the BC beef herd is cruising 25-year lows and some producers are calling for more support to maintain and rebuild their herds. For more, see: [www.countrylifeinbc.com/bc-leads-livestock-tax-deferrals/]

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5 days ago

After weeks and weeks of no moisture, there's rain in Kelowna today. While much more moisture is needed over the coming weeks and months to reduce drought conditions and the air smells of wet campfire, the slow, steady rain is very welcome for fruit grower#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

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6 days ago

The first Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust Grassland Set-aside Variety Trial Field Day was held at Delta's family-owned Tecarte Farms, August 27. Co-owner Bill Bates and DFWT executive director Christine Schmalz welcomed more than 35 people to view seven acres planted to different grassland blends specifically chosen to rejuvenate the soil and support the farm's blueberries. For the Bates family, it was time to try something different following the decline of the field's blueberry bushes over the past several years. "We tried everything, and nothing worked," says Bates. The blueberries were removed in May and the grassland crops planted about a week later.

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Bessette Creek is the latest watershed hit with a temporary fish protection order this year as the province moves to protect returning Chinook salmon. A total of 131 surface and groundwater users must cease drawing water immediately, with forage producers, greenhouses and nurseries impacted. "Declining flows in Bessette Creek reached record lows in early July 2026 and have remained below the minimum level required to support fish population survival," says the province. Bessette producers have embraced voluntary cutbacks, scheduled irrigation and other measures to reduce water use, and are also waiting on funding to boost water storage infrastructure. They're the second group of producers hit with a provincial order this year. Salmon River irrigators were told to top watering earlier this month following a reprieve to address wildfire risk. Growers in both the Salmon River and Bessette watersheds are urging the province to support new water storage infrastructure in advance of next year.

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There is a problem... having lived in the salmon river ( silver creek ) area, I remember a fish biologist telling family members that salmon only "survive" in high iron content creeks, they do not "thrive".... salmon river ( silver creek ) is a very high iron content, would stain clothes brown when i would use bleach... So don't expect high salmon numbers off of that creek , even in ideal situations...

I just wish they would take an interest in CHASE CREEK....went bone dry...100% of trout abd other species died...smell was terrible from rotting fish. Understand this has happened many times in the past. Chase Irrigation District totally responsible for this disaster. Now fishermen are complaining about major drop in water levels at Pillar Lake.

They could not mismanage things worse than they have. It's impossible for them to. The fact that farmers that we need for our animals are now suffering the consequences our governments have not protected us from, is absolutely fucking wild.