“I never thought this would ever happen,” says Justin Day, 81, who has harvested his 100 acres of blueberry fields in Cooper for 50 years and whose father and grandfather before him had the fields, starting around 1900. This year, for the first time in over 100 years, those fields won't be raked because the price of berries is so low.
     "In two years it dropped to nothing," says Day, noting that he was being offered 15 cents a pound this year. "It costs a lot more than that to raise them. I can't live on 15 cents to rake them." Ten years ago, growers received about $1 a pound, but by last year the price had dropped to 30 cents, which is about 20 cents less per pound than the cost to grow them.
     "They don't need the blueberries. There's too many blueberries on the market," he says, pointing to the oversupply caused by the production increases both in Canadian wild blueberries and in cultivated berries. "I can't see any future in blueberries any more. It's a losing proposition for anyone to invest in blueberries now."
     Day, who used to hire 40 to 70 local people from around the Calais and Meddybemps areas to bring in the crop, wistfully recalls looking across the fields and seeing the line of rakers. Of not harvesting his fields this year, he says, "It's not a very good feeling."
     Day is not the only blueberry grower who won't be harvesting this year, although the number out of the over 500 growers in the state is not yet clear. Much of the investment in this season's crop was made last year, so it's expected that many will harvest this year. Alan Spear of East Machias, who has 150 acres of fields in Cooper, Marion and Cathance Township, sells his berries through the Downeast Blueberry Cooperative (DEBCO), which is made up of about 40 small growers. Spear notes that he heard of a lot of the small growers talking about not harvesting this year both because of the uncertainty over the price and because the crop is not looking good. He says that poor pollination and blossom blight caused by the damp weather this spring have caused the crop to be down considerably. "I think at least 50%," he says, noting that he expects to harvest only 25% to 30% of what the fields should produce.
     In his outlook for this year's season, David Yarborough, wild blueberry specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, states that, while the Maine crop has been over 100 million pounds for each of the past three years, he expects that it will be down by 25% or more this year. He reports that only 27,700 beehives were brought to the state this year to pollinate the crops, as growers decided to cut back on production costs. Last year there were 58,000 hives and the year before that 77,000. He also notes that some fields will not be harvested because the processing companies will not be accepting their berries.
     While DEBCO has a contract for Cherryfield Foods to purchase berries from its members, Spear points out that no growers are able to change who they sell to now, as none of the processors are taking on new growers because of the current glut.
     Spear uses mechanical harvesters to bring in his crop, and he notes, "There's not much hand-raking now with the prices so low." Machines can harvest the berries for much less than what the growers paid to rakers. "It pretty much killed what was left of hand-raking. There's no margin to support it."
     A smaller crop production this year will help with the current surplus of berries, Spear observes. He adds that more markets need to be found for the wild blueberries, which are unique. "I'm not sure how well-known they are worldwide. They get lost in the shuffle with the high-bush, but they're a better tasting fruit."
     Scott Hennessey of Hennessey Brothers in Marshfield, which owns and leases about 400 acres in the Township 22, Cooper, Cutler, Alexander and Jonesboro area, says his company also has a contract for Cherryfield Foods to buy his company's berries. All of Hennessey Brothers' crop is machine-harvested, with two harvest crews. The company also manages "a lot of land" and harvests beginning in New Hampshire, moving up through Maine and then into New Brunswick. Hennessey agrees with Spear that "marketing needs to be pushed. They're not doing as much as they need to be," since the supply "exploded" in the past two to three years.
     He has heard talk among growers of trying to get a tariff imposed on Canadian berries, and he notes that land in the Maritimes can be turned into blueberry fields for less than half of the cost it requires in Maine. "It will take me twice as much and twice as long."
'A huge loss'
     The Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company is among the growers that will not be harvesting their fields this year, as Cherryfield Foods informed the tribe it would no longer be purchasing its berries. The tribe has not been able to find another buyer and is now suing Cherryfield Foods for breach of contract.
     According to Darren Paul, manager of the Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company (PWBC), usually 5 to 7 million pounds are harvested from the tribe's fields, with the price paid to growers last year ranging from 25 to 29 cents a pound. While the PWBC fields will not be commercially harvested this year, tribal members are allowed to pick or rake berries on the fields for their own use.
     PWBC manages its over 2,000 acres of land in Columbia Falls, Columbia, Centerville and Township 19 by having four leaseholders who hire the rakers and manage the company's camps. One of the leaseholders, Pos Bassett of Sipayik, says he usually hires a crew of 60 to 80 rakers from Honduras and Mexico. The camps of the three other leaseholders primarily have crews of local Passamaquoddys and Micmacs from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Maine. Bassett doesn't believe any Micmacs are coming this year to harvest, and he notes he had to turn away his rakers from Mexico and Honduras. Some may be able to rake for larger companies such as Wyman's or Allen's.
     A good raker can harvest 60 to 80 boxes a day, making $200. Working six days a week over three weeks, a raker could make over $3,000. Some rakers come back year after year with their families, so the loss of income "sets them back quite a bit," Bassett notes. "It's very unfortunate. Hopefully, we can get back to work next year and do some raking."
     Matt Dana of Indian Township has been raking on the tribe's lands for 20 years, staying at the camps since he was 12. Now he brings his family with three children to the camp, and he notes that this year would have been his youngest son's first year to rake.
     His nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters, also come to the camps for the three weeks of the harvest season. The money they make is used to buy school clothes for the children, but this year "we had to find other ways to do it." He adds, "We've been doing it since we were kids. It was guaranteed, you could go and make money raking. It's a huge loss."
     Dana says life in the camp, with Passamaquoddys and Micmacs, has its own culture of a close-knit community, where you can borrow what you need, the cooking is shared and games are played. In the evenings or on Sundays they would play washers, horseshoes, basketball or softball. He comments, "I'm hopeful we'll return next year."

Marketing efforts
     The wild blueberry industry is working to get on a more stable footing next year as it faces oversupply pressures and price competition resulting from a combination of factors, including a significant growth in cultivated blueberry production; several years of bumper wild blueberry crops in Maine and Canada; and a weak Canadian dollar that is giving Canadian wild blueberries a price advantage. New Brunswick, Quebec, PEI and Nova Scotia have been ramping up production, with Quebec seeing a 150% increase from 2015 to 2016 and New Brunswick now poised to overtake Maine as the world's largest producer of wild blueberries.
     Nancy McBrady, executive director of the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine, says that the issue of the Canadian wild blueberry crop size "is exacerbated by the U.S./Canadian currency exchange rate. The weak Canadian dollar provides an approximate 25% discount when priced against Maine berries." Although some growers have suggested a tariff on Canadian blueberry imports, she notes that a tariff "would not be able to rectify that macro‑economic issue." A possible tariff is being assessed by the Trump administration as it reviews the North American Free Trade Agreement, but it would take a significant amount of time for one to be imposed.
     To help reduce the oversupply, since 2012 the U.S. Department of Agriculture has purchased 30 million pounds of wild blueberries through "bonus buys" and has authorized the purchase of $10 million worth of berries this fiscal year, at the urging of the state's congressional delegation.
     However, for a sustainable increase in demand for wild blueberries, McBrady says the commission is "pursuing a more aggressive marketing campaign targeting consumers, food manufacturers and food service channels, and a national public school food service initiative. The wild blueberry industry's primary marketing strategy is to educate consumers about the power of wild foods and the significant advantages of wild over cultivated blueberries. Wild blueberries have more genetic diversity, a unique origin story, they deliver two times the antioxidants, more fiber and have a more intense flavor than the cultivated ones."
     She adds, "In 2016 the industry conducted consumer research that showed that once people understand the taste, health and 'real foods' advantages of wild blueberries, they are more likely to purchase them. We are currently conveying this powerful consumer preference information to food manufacturers and food service companies so that they incorporate wild blueberries into new products that consumers will enjoy." She notes that the commission's marketing campaign positions frozen wild blueberries as a leading superfruit ingredient in a growing consumer smoothie craze. They are also being used in other products such as frozen waffles and blueberry bars.
     As for whether those efforts are paying off, the commission notes that its school food service program has seen a 91% increase in public school sales from 2016 to 2017, and blueberries are now available in schools across 22 states versus only 13 states in 2016. Also, retail frozen volume sales of wild blueberries are up 122% since 2011, compared to strawberries, which are up 10.5%.
     Patricia Kontur, director of programs for the commission, points to another of the commission's programs, which provides recipes and promotional material for blueberries at Maine's visitor centers for tourists to look at. The commission also is promoting sales overseas, with the South Korean market, for example, seeing a 65% increase in sales from 2014 to 2016. "They love the product  the nutrition, the health and the taste," says Kontur.
     She notes that one of the largest challenges is to ensure people understand the differences between wild and cultivated blueberries, since 33 states are now growing the cultivated ones. Of the wild fruit, Kontur says, "We want to promote them for their health benefits -- they have twice the nutritional benefit" and also have "a depth of taste" that is not found in the cultivated berries. Research studies also demonstrate the micronutrient and antioxidant benefits of blueberries.
     Kontur points out that a number of growers are expanding their market through farmstands and farmers' markets, selling more fresh berries. Growers also are selling to companies that produce other products such as wineries, breweries and jam makers.
     As for the coming years, McBrady states, "The future of the wild blueberry industry is strong. We have healthy plants and solid acreage and are growing an extremely nutritious and delicious fruit. While we are facing challenges from cultivated blueberries and the size of the Canadian wild crop, I believe there is room to increase demand for the Maine wild blueberry to keep pace with larger supply. It won't happen overnight, and we need to pursue value-added opportunities for Maine wild blueberries in addition to vigorous marketing and promotion efforts, both domestically and abroad, but the state's iconic wild blueberry industry is going to succeed and be sustained."