Cold, frosty weather across New Brunswick earlier this month has led to widespread crop damage including for blueberries.
Frost killed many berries just as they were starting to flower and the Southeast region appears to have been hardest hit.
Blueberries NB chair John Schenkels says crop insurance isn’t an option for many growers for a variety of reasons.
“We tend to have some issues with acquiring for the yields that we have and to make it afffordable for the farmer as well,” he notes.
Schenkels says a damage assessment is now underway but it’s estimated between 50 and 80 percent of the blueberry crop has been wiped out this year.
He adds it’s not clear yet what this will mean for consumers later this summer.