Oct 2019 Shoreline (Page 18 - 19)Fundy Drinks, one of the 2018 winners in the Wild Blueberry...

Fundy Drinks, one of the 2018winners in the Wild BlueberrySolutions Challenge, developed

a wild blueberry sparklingwater drink under their VIVEAU

brand resulting in a blend ofNova Scotia wild blueberries

and lightly carbonated mineralwater. The Wild Blueberry

Solutions Challenge encouragescontinuous development of

value-added blueberryproducts. The second winnerwas Jus Nova Agriculture Ltd.,Jus Nova is developing a wildblueberry smoothie featuring

plant-based protein.

By Linda Harrington There was more of an opti-

mistic atmosphere at the 2019Wild Blueberry Producers ofNova Scotia AGM than there wasthis time last year, after the in-dustry had suffered a devastat-ing frost event and a few yearsof low prices for their crop. WB-PANS President Barron Bloisopened the meeting reflectingon the better crop year but not-ing the price is still not whereproducers would like it. Hehopes with the Board’s newstrategy, this will improve overtime.

Peter Burgess, Perennia WildBlueberry Crop Specialist, saysthe 2019 crop year turned outbetter than expected consider-ing the significant winter dam-age in most fields due to a lackof snow cover. The unusual coldspring resulted in delayed plantdevelopment of 1-2 weeks,which carried over into a latebloom and a delayed harvest.“We were still seeing green fruitinto the first week of Septem-ber,” says Peter, “The crop justnever caught up after the de-layed start.” Despite this, yieldswere higher than expected with

close to 40 million pounds re-ported for Nova Scotia. Yieldswere variable across theprovince, depending on wherethe snow cover accumulated,and sprout fields are lookinggood for next year’s crop.

Health Research is a top pri-ority for the Wild Blueberry As-sociation of North America(WBANA), says WBANA rep JohnCameron, with over $300,000 al-located to research. A successfulInternational Health Summitcame to Halifax this summerwith a focus on Neuro Science.

Researchers continue to delveinto the positive health benefitsof wild blueberries related tocardiovascular health, metabolichealth, wellness and aging, alongwith the neuroscience and brainhealth.

WBANA promotes wild blue-berry consumption around theworld, with global markets forover 300 million pounds incountries such as Germany,Japan, Poland, China and the US.They continue to lobby the gov-ernment to assist with the re-moval of tariffs in China.

Peter Rideout, WBPANs Exec-utive Director presented an his-torical summary of the WildBlueberry Industry. Vacciniumangustifolium is the species ofwild blueberry native to NovaScotia, with related speciesgrown around the world, this isthe only area in the world wherethe wild blueberry is grown as acommercial industry. Traditionalwild blueberry gathering of FirstNations people was brought tothe attention of early Europeansettlers. The first canning wasdone in Maine in the early1800’s and buying agents even-tually made their way to the Mar-itime provinces in the early1900’s, shipping berries by boatand train to the canneries.

With the beginning of frozenfood products in the 1950’s, an-nual trade delegations exploredEurope and eventually lead tothe first overseas sales of berriesto Germany in the early 1960’s.John Bragg, Oxford FrozenFoods went on several Trade Mis-sions to Japan in the 1970’s andstarted with an order for justone container of wild blueber-ries. This has led to a very impor-tant market with sales topping$19 million pounds/year and hasallowed the industry to expand

into other Asian markets. In1980, the annual production was40 million pounds and by 2016this had increased 10-fold to 400million pounds, with 95% of thecrop frozen at harvest. 90% ofthe Canadian wild blueberrycrop is exported to 30 coun-tries, including Europe, UnitedStates and East Asia.

The “Wild Blueberry HealthInsights” presentation by Dr.Willy Kalt, WBANA Canada onceagain cast an encouraging lighton the little blueberry. Eventhough healthy foods, includingwild blueberries do not have thepotency of drugs, eating thesefoods on a regular basis help re-duce disease and improve over-all health. Blueberries have oneof the highest concentrations ofanthocyanins, a class of com-pounds with antioxidant effectsfound in the pigments that giveblueberries their deep bluecolor.

Wild blueberries only have80 calories/cup but give 6g of di-etary fiber (or 21% of daily rec-ommendation) and 4mg or170% of your daily recom-mended manganese. Fresh fromthe field to the freezer, locks in

freshness and major nutrients,with health benefits observedfrom eating just 1/3 cup per day.Enjoy healthy wild blueberriesdaily, starting with breakfast!

Dr. Rémy Lambert, UniversitéLaval discussed the importanceto the industry of using wildblueberries in value added prod-ucts. He said globally there havebeen over 3000 new productsusing blueberries, with over 200new pet food products and over700 beauty products. Exports ofwild blueberries are ending upin high-end value-added prod-ucts and the industry needs toencourage more of this by help-ing stakeholders to think outsidethe box, have better transparentrelationships and more informa-tion sharing.

An interesting presentationon Economic and ConsumerTrends by Craig Wight, ManagingDirector, Narrative Researchgave some promising data onwhere wild blueberries fit intothe food trends of consumers.With 84% of Canadians believingwhat they eat effects their phys-ical health and 64% their emo-tional well being, having ahealthy product to market is

good news. The biggest barrierconsumers face for meal prepa-ration is their busy lifestyles,which creates opportunities forfoods with minimal prep timeor pre-planning. Plant basedfoods are also on trend, as arethose with sustainable benefits,again good news for wild blue-berry producers.

Greg Connell, Nurture At-lantic gave an update on Brand-ing Canadian Wild Blueberries.Any products using wild blueber-ries as an ingredient can use thenew Canadian Wild Blueberrylogo on their package. There hasbeen a great deal of effort putinto developing a new webpageand social media platforms in-cluding Facebook, Instagram andtwitter, to continue to build thebrand and tell the story of theCanadian grown wild blueberry.

WILD BLUEBERRY ASSOCIATION OF NOVA SCOTIA WILD BLUEBERRY ASSOCIATION OF NOVA SCOTIA THE SHORELINE JOURNAL - DECEMBER, 2019 - PAGE 19

Custom Manufactured Products:1) Mechanical Blueberry Harvester - Reel-type picking head

side mounted to a tractor; picking head follows contoursof the ground. Reduces harvesting costs as much as50%.

2) Blueberry Gang Mower - BGM-3 Gangmower threemower heads mounted in a staggered pattern under a towframe. Available with 3-foot or 4-foot mowing heads witha cut path of 8’6” and 11’6” respectively.

3) Roadside Mower - Single head, side mount mower 5-foothead. There are 25 units in operation throughout NovaScotia. Units are used in bush cutting operations androadside mowing in the State of Maine.

4) Excavator Mower - Single head, boom mount mower has5-foot head. Head is mounted to the excavator boomusing existing bucket mounting pins enabling mower headto mow contour of the ditches.

5) Highway Median Mower - BMM-5 median mower is acombination of 2 mid-mount 5-foot side mowers mountedon left and right sides of 90 HP tractor unit and 2 five-footheads with 1 four-foot head mounted under a tow framewith a total cut path of 21’6”. All heads are independentlyraised and lowered.

6) DBE Electronics - We offer contract electronicsmanufacturing with an emphasis on product quality andon time delivery. Manufacturing capabilities includeelectronic assembly, printed circuit boards and cableassemblies for prototype to production run quantities. Noquantity is too large or too small.

7) Cranberry Harvester – This is the latest addition of DougBragg Enterprises's lineup of custom manufacturedproducts. This machine is intended for dry pickingcranberries with as little waste as possible and withvirtually no damage to the bog. The ground pressure withthe recommended setup is less than a foot print of anadult of average size.

Doug Bragg Enterprises112 Bragg Road, Collingwood NS B0M 1E0

PH: 902-686-3355; Fax: 686-3898 www.dbe.ca

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For demonstrations or more information contact:

62, Cartier Boulevard, Riveriere-du-Loup, PQ G5R 6B2Ph: 418-862-7273; Fax: 418-862-7390

E-mail: info@jrtardif.com WWW: www.jrtardif.comMaritime Province’s contact: Jean-Marc Savoie

Ph: 506-344-5793; Cell: 506-337-4113; Fax: 506-344-5689E-mail: jeanmarc@jrtardif.com

JR Tardif, a leader in flail mower technology designed for blueberry fields in the Maritimes, hadsamples of machinery on display at the annual Wild Blueberry Producers of Nova Scotia

(WBPANS) 2015 Field Day.

JR Tardif is a leader in flail mower technology designed for the Maritime Provinces blue-berry fields. We have responded to customer’s requests for a 54” flail mower to fit onto 25hp tractors. We work with you to increase the yield from each acre, fill in bare spots andhelp make you more money. We can also supply you with chopper mowers, ToolPostPuller mower, stump grinder, flail mowers and now flail movers for compact tractors.

For a demonstration or more information call Jean-Marc Savoie 506337-4113 or • Order EARLY to GUARANTEE delivery.• Remains active on cold, cloudy and rainy days.• Can be used in combination with honeybees.

Proven Pollinators Maximize Production.

BUMBLEBEE POLLINATIONQUAD

TM

Ensure proper pollination of your crop with Koppert Bumblebee QUADS!

www.koppert.ca

KOPPERT CANADA LIMITED 40 Ironside Crescent, Unit # 3, Scarborough, ON M1X 1G4Phone: 416-291-0040, Toll Free: 1-800-567-4195, Email: orders@koppert.ca

PAGE 18 THE SHORELINE JOURNAL - DECEMBER, 2019

Blueberries used in 3000 New Products; 200 Pet Food and 700 Beauty Products

Wild Blueberry Association of Nova Scotia 2019 Annual Meeting Photos by Linda Harrington

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Craig Wight, ManagingDirector, Narrative Research.

Greg Connell, Nurture Atlantic.

John Cameron, WBANA Canada.

Peter Burgess, Perennia WildBlueberry Crop Specialist.

Peter Rideout, WBPANSExecutive Director.

Dr. Willy Kalt,WBANA Canada.

Rémy Lambert of Laval University.

A Wild Blueberry Sampling and Product Showcasetook place at the end of day one of the Wild

Blueberry Conference. Heather Boyd is samplingsome of Van Dyk’s new products.

Emrys and Everette Pyne were sure enjoying theirwild blueberries. Their mom says the boys can’t get

enough of the tasty berries.

Jeff Orr makes a presentation to retiring Director ArtSargent.

Everyone enjoyed the wild blueberry themed mealsat the 2019 NS Wild Blueberry Conference.

Additional 2019 Conference Guest Speakers

Some of the new value-added wild blueberry products were on display.

WBPANS shared a booth with Van Dyks at Saltscapes Harvest Greets the Holidays inBible Hill on November 8 at the Agridome on Ryland Avenue.

Victor Oulton, President of NSFA.

Alice Pugsley, WBPANSPromotion Chair.

Barron Blois, WBPANS President

Dr. Robyn McCallum,Atlantic Tech TransferTeam for Apiculture,

Perennia.

WILD BLUEBERRYSOLUTIONS CHALLENGE