SOURIS WEST, P.E.I. — A mass of blue mist blankets Paul Gallant’s fields, building his confidence for a good wild blueberry harvest this summer.
Gallant has been farming since 1970 on the east coast of Prince Edward Island and has produced a variety of crops including a herd of Herefords before moving into wild blueberries on 40 acres in 1979.
“It takes a long time to develop a blueberry field. This is my 35th year,” he said from his home at Souris West, which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and a tidal river.
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His family owned a large fish processing plant that closed when cod stocks ran out. Gallant decided he wanted to go his own way and attended agriculture college in Truro, Nova Scotia.
About 130 P.E.I. growers produce around two million pounds of wild blueberries that are processed at a nearby Wyman’s plant.
Gallant’s first crop yielded about 135 kilograms. Last year, he produced 60 tonnes (60,000 kg) using harvesters that look like hand-held rototillers.
Wild blueberries spread by rhizomes, a kind of creeping root stalk. With added inputs, the yields are substantial.
“P.E.I. averaged 2,500 pounds per acre. I had close to 8,000 pounds (per acre),” he said.
In autumn, after the vines go dormant and fields are mowed, Gallant scatters straw and burns it.
“Burning is a form of pruning,” he said. “I mow and spread straw and burn. A lot of farmers don’t bother. Every time you get a nice hot burn you are destroying your blight spores, your bugs and a straw burn leaves ash, potash that is good for blueberries.”
It takes about 45 minutes to burn off a field.
“Growing blueberries is a science but there is a bit of luck,” he said.
Gallant is the only blueberry farmer in the area to use irrigation fed by pipelines installed in the fields. He dug a reservoir in 2001 and in dry years like this summer, he irrigates.
Most of the freshwater in the province comes from deep wells. The province regulates how much water can be withdrawn from the wells for irrigation.
Bumblebees and leaf cutter bees pollinate the tiny white blossoms.
Gallant uses insecticide to stay ahead of a fruit fly that lays eggs in the fruit. That turns into a grub that makes the berry soft and unsalable. He also has to spray for weeds like hawkweed.
He tracks all his spraying activity. Recently, citizens groups have been taking pictures of farmers spraying chemicals and posting it on YouTube and Facebook, although in many cases when the department of environment investigates, there are no violations.
“The social media is really playing havoc with us,” he said.
“There is absolutely no way you can grow wild blueberries organically because you are going to get humungous weed problems and flies.”
He does use some biocontrols.
A few decades ago coyotes arrived on the island.
When he first spied them eating berries in the fields, he wanted them out, but he later realized they helped control wild birds that raided the vines. Gallant also has a computerized system that emits predator bird sounds to scare gulls.
Gallant starts harvest at the end of August and delivers to the nearby processing plant where the berries are sorted for size and colour. They are rapidly frozen and packaged for shipment to Japanese, European and North American retail outlets.
Previously, he worked off the farm as a conservation inspector for the department of fisheries and oceans.
He retired in 2010 and his wife, Faye, recently retired as a school teacher.
Chances are their two daughters and son will not take over because they followed job opportunities off the island. They are scattered across Canada from Ontario to Calgary to the Yukon.
These days, Gallant and a friend are researching local history. His spare time is devoted to interviewing and recording retired fishermen who recall the days when cod was king.
The fisheries, however, are not over.
Thriving mackerel, tuna, scallops and snow crab industries have maintained that aspect of island life. The lobster business is also growing.
“That is one of the best managed fisheries we have,” he said.
Gallant also has woodlots of red, black and white spruce, juniper or tamarack, poplar, maple and birch.
Some is sold for pulp or firewood and the long, straight logs from spruce trees are used for two by four studs.
