The cranberry harvest season is nearing its end, and the production of the bright red berry has not been strong this year.
According to a local 91原创 farmer, the crop yield is down 50 per cent.
Brian Dewit, owner of Riverside Cranberries, finished harvesting his crop last week and said farms across the province did not have a fruitful season.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got some long-term farmers in the industry, farms that have been going for 50, 60 years and these growers have said they鈥檝e never seen this before,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if we can attribute it to the winters, [they] just aren鈥檛 as cold as they have been so the plants never go fully dormant.鈥�
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Dewit said the plants are expected to fall dormant during the winter months, but recalls January being an unusually warm month.
鈥淭he plants started to think about waking up鈥� everything was budding,鈥� he said.
However, in February there was a cold snap and the plants experienced 鈥渇reeze drying,鈥� Dewit explained, where water had started to move up into the buds causing them to swell up but the dip in temperatures in February resulted in them freezing over and eventually breaking off.
鈥淪ome farms got hit worse. Some farms survived with very little impact. It was totally random, but overall it鈥檚 affected the industry to the tune of at least 50 per cent of last year鈥檚 crop,鈥� said Dewit.
British Columbia accounts for 12 per cent of cranberry production in North America, according to the province鈥檚 growers鈥� association.
Mike Wallis, manager at the association, was reluctant to say how much the crop yield was down because the final numbers aren鈥檛 in yet but said he estimates between 40 to 50 per cent.
鈥楾he general consensus is the crop is down,鈥� he said.
Wallis said the industry had it鈥檚 best production last year and attributes that to the downturn this year, as well as what he called 鈥渨inter injuries.鈥�
鈥淥nce you have a big crop, the following crop it takes a little bit out of the plant,鈥� he said.
However, Dewit said his plants still looked promising after last year.
鈥淭ypically we average between 85 to 90 million pounds a year in production for the whole province and last year we did a 120 million pounds, so it [was] up significantly. So the plants looked good after that, surprisingly, considering the stress of carrying a huge crop,鈥� Dewit explained, adding much of the summer was troubled by smoke from the forest fire.
The local farmer attributes last year鈥檚 surge in production to the high volume of honey bees out in the fields.
However, he isn鈥檛 reading too much into what this might mean for next year鈥檚 production.
鈥淭here are so many variables that come into play when you鈥檙e farming. You can do everything by the book and still end up with anomalies,鈥� he said.
Aside from some field maintenance and eventually winterizing his equipment, Dewit is wrapping up for the season. He said he won鈥檛 be looking at starting any major fieldwork until April.
joti.grewal@blackpress.ca
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