Blueberry farmers see a silver lining after devastating Nova Scotia wildfires

After devastating wildfires across Nova Scotia earlier this summer, a silver lining is emerging, and it's very blue.  

Blueberry grower Peter Sutherland, 72, who introduces himself as Blueberry Pete, was devastated when he was forced to leave his property in Barrington, N.S., at the end of May as forest fires raged in Shelburne County, in the southwestern corner of the province.

His main harvester, two tractors, three outbuildings and a trailer full of extra parts he had collected over the 15 years he's had his blueberry crop were all destroyed by the fire that displaced thousands of residents in the area. He estimates the value to be up to $400,000, most of which was not insured.   

He also lost around 20 per cent of his crop, but even when he was at his worst, he knew the fire would spark new growth quickly. 

When CBC News visited his farm last week, Sutherland pointed to green shoots more than five centimetres high, as he crouched in an area of his field otherwise charred black. 

"We've got blueberry plants that high already growing," he said.

"This is why this is all blueberries here to start with. This whole area burnt just over 100 years ago, the same area that this fire just went through."

Weathered newspaper clippings at the local museum, dated Aug. 24, 1911, state that Shelburne County was getting a "fearful scorching" from forest fires. 

Sutherland says his grandfather told stories about all the blueberries that popped up after that fire. 

Roots serve as 'storage reserve'

And there's real science behind it.

David Percival, a professor in Dalhousie University's faculty of agriculture, says blueberry plants have a massive root and rhizome system which makes them different from other plants. Rhizomes are underground stems that produce shoots and roots of new plants.  

"If you're looking at an apple tree, it might be 20 to 25 per cent of the plant in the form of a root system, but with these blueberries, it ranges between 75 to 85 per cent," he said on Monday in a field at the Wild Blueberry Research Centre in Debert, N.S., of which he is also the manager. 

He says the large root system is the reason the plant is so resilient. 

"It serves as a storage reserve that the plant can draw on when it's exposed to really harsh environmental conditions such as forest fires," he said.

Researchers at the centre, which was established in 1983, examine the basic growth and development of 17 acres of blueberries — how they respond to various environmental stresses like drought and cold temperatures and other matters such as pollination. 

Around two dozen of them, including Dalhousie students studying there, develop new technologies to help commercial producers.  

As he dug the dirt away to reveal the root system beneath the berries, Percival explained that when fire tears across a crop, it causes a release of nutrients into the soil and the rhizomes quickly draw on those nutrients.

"And as a result of this, blueberries can fill into an area quite quickly after a burn event has occurred," he said, noting Indigenous communities have long used fire as a pruning method for blueberries.

Other growers have used the technique as well, though it is increasingly uncommon due to the risk, pollution and costs associated with it. 

Percival notes fire can also help by getting rid of "competing vegetation" in blueberry fields, such as grass, that might otherwise be taking up space, moisture and nutrients.   

Unlikely to cause influx of growers

Nova Scotia produces between 45 and 60 million pounds of wild blueberries each season, exporting more than $100 million worth a year. 

David Harrison, president of the Wild Blueberry Association of Nova Scotia, says the recent wildfires probably won't result in an influx of people into the industry because it would still take a considerable amount of money to develop the fields. 

"But it would allow them to see if blueberries are there," he said. "That's kind of the silver lining here."

Sutherland says he'd still prefer the fire didn't happen at all. 

He barely found a new harvesting machine in time to start pulling this season's crop. 

On top of that, he says the wildfire smoke seems to have killed many of the bees native to the area — he hasn't seen a single bumblebee since — and it may take years for the population to come back, which means he'll have to pay to bring in honeybees to pollinate the crop for a while. 

But Blueberry Pete agrees the fires will mean blueberries that have been lying dormant will come to life over the next two years.  

"And we're going to have a lot of blueberry picking along the highway," he laughed.