Yesterday a member of the Atlantic Tech Transfer Team for Apiculture attended the Wild Blueberry Producers Association of Nova Scotia (WBPANS) Winter Information meeting in Truro, NS. The event was well attended by industry representatives and provided a great opportunity for producers to discuss last year’s season and expectations for the upcoming growing season. Continue reading this week’s blog to learn the highlights of some information discussed during the meeting.
Review of the Wild Blueberry Producers Association of Nova Scotia Winter Information Meeting 2026
Yesterday
Nova Scotia wild blueberry producers gathered in Truro, NS for their winter
information meeting. Janette McDonald (Executive Director of WBPANS) welcomed
everyone to the meeting and provided an update on behalf of the association.
Janette discussed the priorities of the association which includes cost of
production, provided information on WBPANS drought response for the 2025
growing season, gave an overview of the various events held by WBPANS this past
year, and discussed the work of the WBPANS research committee. Additionally,
Janette provided information on upcoming events for wild blueberry producers
which includes the Maritime Wild Blueberry Conference which will be held in
Moncton, NB on April 10th and 11th, and the WBPANS field
day which will be held on June 24th in Onslow, NS.
Patrick
Whynot (Ag Business Advisory) gave a presentation on agriculture cost of
production with key considerations for wild blueberries. Patrick discussed what
makes cost of production models for wild blueberries unique which includes the
fact wild blueberries are a biennial crop, producers have field heterogeneity,
critical time windows for management practices such as pollination, and a
unique market structure. There are some aspects of blueberry production that
cannot be changed by the grower such as the market structure, climate
variability, farm interest rates, and trade and tariff policies, which presents
challenges for building a cost of production model. However, there are also some
key considerations that are often missed by blueberry producers when assessing
the economics of the business such as the full economic costs of sprout year
fields, depreciation costs of equipment, owner labour costs, and inaccurate
time estimates of various management practices.
Ashley
MacDonald (Dalhousie University) gave a presentation on profit margins with key
advise for wild blueberry producers to make small adjustments to their
production practices to help provide small increases in profit margins. For
example, Ashley discussed the value of producers to invest more resources into
their best producing fields and reducing inputs in low performing areas or
fields.
Sawyer
Olmstead (Nova Scotia Provincial Apiculturist) provided an overview of the Nova
Scotia honey bee industry. There are currently 983 beekeepers registered in
Nova Scotia, and it is expected that number may increase to over 1000 this
spring, which is the highest number of Nova Scotia registered beekeepers to
date. Sawyer discussed the geographic spread of colonies across the province,
where the most populated region is Kings/Hants counties with over 15,000
colonies. Sawyer discussed colony winter loss where last year the province had
a winter loss average of 18.3%. He discussed the 2025 pollination and honey
production season, which had significant challenges given severe drought
conditions. Finally, Sawyer discussed challenges to the beekeeping industry
including climate, decreasing honey yields, honey bee pests and diseases, and
challenges associated with pollination.
Hugh Lyu
(Perennia Wild Blueberry Specialist) gave a talk on the 2025 wild blueberry
growing season. Hugh highlighted how drought stress impacted the growth of
plants in both sprout year and crop year fields. This past winter has provided
favourable conditions for wild blueberry plants with the required chilling
hours for winter dormancy, and adequate snow cover across the province. The
next challenge will be for good spring temperatures for plant deacclimation,
which is when plants lose their hardiness and prepare for spring growth. Once
the deacclimation process has started extreme cold conditions can cause plant
damage.
The final
presentation of the morning was from Lisa Jenereaux (Spurr Brothers Farms) who
discussed the history and challenges of their farm and the importance of
diversifying farms to produce multiple commodities and include other revenue
streams such as agrotourism.
During the
afternoon Dr. Harrison Wright (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) gave a talk on
the impact of the 2025 drought on wild blueberry bud hardiness. Last summer
most of Nova Scotia experienced either D3 (extreme drought) or D4 (exceptional
drought) conditions with the driest summer on record. Overall, the research
suggests that bud hardiness levels do not appear to have been significantly
compromised by the drought conditions. Drought conditions appeared to have
impacted nutrient reserves, but minimally impacted carbohydrate reserves.
Hugh Lyu
gave a second talk on new technology available for wild blueberry producers.
Hugh shared the new “Wild Blueberry Management Tool” available to growers which
can be used to plan for management of Monilinia blight and Botrytis blight.
To conclude
the meeting Dr. Scott White (Dalhousie University) discussed the biology and
management of weeds. Scott discussed the biology and treatment options for 2
main weeds of wild blueberries – sheep sorrel and hair fescue.
Thank you to all members of WBPANS who helped organize this great event, which provided an opportunity for growers to recap the 2025 season and to learn from ongoing research.
Connecting with ATTTA Specialists
If you’d like to connect with ATTTA specialists or learn more about our program, you can:
visit our website at https://www.perennia.ca/portfolio-items/honey-bees/
Email attta@perennia.ca