For the first time, wild blueberries hand-raked on fields owned by the Passamaquoddy Tribe will be marketed under their own brand. While the Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company has a new 10-year contract with Wyman's, which freezes and markets blueberries under its own label, the tribal company can sell 20% of its harvest, or about 500,000 pounds, on its own.
      Brian Altvater, president of the Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company, says, "I'm very excited about it. We had to do it to keep up with the times, as the blueberry market is changing. It's not just a local economy, but you have to look at it globally. Blueberries are sold all over the world, and you have to compete with cultivated berries." While the cultivated ones are less expensive for consumers to purchase, he says the wild blueberries are "100 times tastier and better for you." He adds, "You need a good, high-quality product or you're out of business.
      Altvater points out, "We are the only tribe marketing low-bush blueberries, and I'm thrilled that the Passamaquoddy are part of that."
      The company has 2,000 acres of blueberry land in Columbia Falls, Columbia, Centerville and Township 19, with 1,000 acres harvested each year. Harvesting started on the barrens on July 26 and should last about four weeks. Of this season's harvest, Altvater says, "It looks like a decent year."
      Holli Francis, the value-added product manager for Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company, notes that with most of the wild blueberry industry now using mechanical harvesters, the Passamaquoddys and Micmacs who harvest the blueberries on the tribe's lands in Washington County have a tradition of hand-raking, which they are trying to preserve by selling the berries under their own brand. Part of the marketing for those berries will be that they are hand-harvested. Harvesters include not only Passamaquoddy but also other Wabanaki peoples and some local people from the Machias area.
      While the company has had five harvesting crews with about 600 rakers in the past, this year there is only one, with between 50 and 60 rakers, which Francis says is due to "the lingering effects of COVID." The company did open up one of its camps so that some workers can stay on the barrens. Between four and eight people can stay in each cabin, and there are 26 cabins at a camp. Last year, all of the rakers had to commute each day.
      The Wabanaki who live in Canada traditionally have come to Maine to rake berries on the tribe's lands, and this year they have been given essential worker letters so that they can cross the border into the U.S. Although around 250 rakers have come from Canada in the past, Altvater says that none have crossed this year. He believes that's both because of government benefits that workers receive during the pandemic and because the tradition was interrupted during two years -- last year, when they could not cross because of pandemic border restrictions, and in 2017 when the tribe didn't harvest its crop after Cherryfield Foods told the company it would not be purchasing the berries. The company then sued Cherryfield Foods for breach of contract and was awarded over $1.76 million.

Value-added products eyed
      As for how the berries that aren't being sold to Wyman's will be used, Francis says that this year they will be individually quick frozen at Merrill Blueberry Farms in Hancock and will be marketed as a Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company product. Other options are being explored for the future, including traditional recipes and possible co-branding options with different producers from Maine to Colorado. Currently, a fresh-pack line cannot be offered, as the company is not set up to do that packaging.
      Francis says the value-added products the tribe will be marketing will help with economic development for the Passamaquoddy communities, as the company provides five year-round jobs and all of its profits are either used for future growth of the company or given to the two tribal governments to be used for the betterment of their communities.
      Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company has joined the Intertribal Agriculture Council, a network of Native American growers across the U.S., and can use a logo indicating its products are American Indian grown or produced. The council, founded in 1987, aims to promote the conservation, development and use of agricultural resources for the betterment of tribes in the U.S. Francis notes that, with a goal of sovereignty for the tribes, tribal communities like to support each other with their Native products.
      Francis points out that the Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company is the largest, non-processing wild blueberry farm in Maine. The company has a new logo, and more information about the company can be found on its new website, pquoddyberries.com.