April 10, 2010
The Blueberry
Farmer
Former Mountie goes from force to field
Text and
photos by Karl Wells
Special to The Telegram
Jeff Milner has turned approximately 300 acres of
leased land in Central Newfoundland into prime blueberry fields. The retired
RCMP officer established his unusual farm 6 years ago at Jumpers Brook. Milner
remembers harvesting blueberries as a boy in his native Sackville, NB. He
always had a mind to start a blueberry farm, even though he was raised on a
beef farm. After serving 25 years with the Mounties
in places like Burgeo, Stephenville and Grand Falls he now operates Jumpers
Brook Blueberry Farm, producers of Frosty Wild Blueberries.
The berries are frozen and sold in 5 lb durable
cardboard boxes at Coleman’s, Co-op, Sobeys and Costco. Retail price ranges
between $15 and $17 per box. According to Milner the price is justified by the
extremely high quality of his product. Frosty berries still maintain their
bloom – the bluish surface coating – and are as individual after freezing as
when they were on the bush. This is possible because at Jumpers Brook they do
not use a water process for ridding the berries of leaves and bits of branch.
Air is forced through them to blow away the unwanted material.
Water v. air
Many blueberry farms wash berries in water to remove
leaves and twigs. The wet berries are frozen and held. Eventually they are
processed through equipment that shakes off ice and twig matter. The contact
with water and extra handling removes the bloom and turns them dark. Often
these berries stick together when frozen, unlike Milner’s berries, which still
look pristine after freezing. Apart from processing, Newfoundland’s low bush
blueberries have inherent qualities above and beyond mainland berries. Jeff
Milner explained that mainland berries are infected by a fruit fly that does
not exist here in Newfoundland.
“Newfoundland has a complete ban on high bush and low
bush blueberries coming into the province because we don’t want this character.
CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) has been testing every year and we don’t
have it. The only fresh Canadian blueberries allowed into Newfoundland are high
bush blueberries from BC. Apparently they don’t have this fruit fly either.”
He went on to explain another reason why Newfoundland’s
homegrown blueberries are superior.
“Because of our cooler, longer growing season the
Newfoundland blueberry has developed a tough character. It took me 15 years to
get paper on this but Newfoundland blueberries have tested higher in antioxidant
value and other pharmaceutical values - mostly in the skin itself. Centuries of
growing in this climate have given them their high antioxidant value. Maine
harvests a month and a half before us. It takes berries here longer to ripen
but we do better for it.”
How?
If, like me, you’re wondering how Newfoundland low
bush blueberries are farmed, it’s pretty straightforward. One thing you will
never have to do is actually plant them. First you need to find land where
blueberries are already growing. Then you clear the area of anything that will
compete with the blueberry bushes for nutrients. Burning the blueberry bushes
using a special gas powered burner encourages growth and development. It takes
a couple of years for a field to yield realistic commercial amounts, so farmers
have more than one area in play at a time. After burning or mowing, a field
will need burning again in 3 or 4 years because yield drops dramatically over a
year or two.
You’ll also need to build roads into your fields for
worker and equipment access. A tractor is necessary for hauling. Then there are
burners, mowers, picking rakes, containers and, of course, processing equipment
– blower, tables, freezers et cetera. As you can see, a significant outlay of
money is required. Wise farmers like Milner create a realistic business plan
that includes a marketing plan. There’s no point in growing blueberries if
nobody buys them. Jeff Milner believes retailers (supermarkets and restaurants)
and consumers should support local farmers, farm workers and products. Local
produce is higher in quality; it’s better for you. However, that quality comes
at a cost.
Tough
“A vegetable farmer in Newfoundland cannot compete
with a 1200 acre carrot farm in Quebec. Nor can he compete with potatoes from
PEI off a 600-acre farm over there. Our growing conditions are different and
cooler and we get less of a crop sometimes. But we have as much if not more
expenses. The major market is St. John’s. To get my blueberries into St. John’s
it’s a 10 or 11 hour round trip with a truck. That costs me $250 to $300 in
fuel alone. Now government regulations require that I overnight in St. John’s
so tack overnight expenses onto that. The public have to understand that buying
local is important. As a berry farmer I have to compete with berries coming in
from other countries with child labour issues. They have no rules. We have
better food, better programmes but unless people here realise we need their
support, we’re in for a tough time.”
Milner acknowledges there are buyers that support
local producers. Others, he says, are only interested in the lowest priced
produce. Often that’s from outside the province. There’s also the question of
what constitutes “local” because some stores identify products from PEI, Quebec
and Nova Scotia as local. Jeff Milner says he and others chose to farm knowing
the challenges. He doesn’t want to come across as a whiner. Yet he believes
that because farmers in this province work very hard, they aren’t asking too
much in wanting to go from an “adequate” to “comfortable” living. Hopefully
more and more of us will agree and begin to buy or continue to buy our own
products.
Blueberry
and Yoghurt Smoothie
Courtesy smoothie-recipes.com
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of wild blueberries
1/2 cup of blueberry yoghurt
1/2 a banana
1/2 cup of ice
Method:
Blend the banana, ice and yoghurt together until the
banana is well blended. Add the blueberries and blend on low speed for 30
seconds. Adding the blueberries at the end leaves the blueberry flavour at the
top.
Blueberry
Pieces Smoothie
Courtesy smoothie-recipes.com
Ingredients:
1/4 cup of wild blueberries
1/4 cup of wild blueberries chopped into pieces
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 a banana
1/2 cup of ice
Method:
Start by blending the ice, banana, honey, and whole
blueberries on a high speed. Place the chopped blueberries in a glass before
pouring the smoothie. Stir and enjoy a great fruity smoothie.
