Maine wild blueberry growers get $10M 'bonus buy'

Photo / Lori Valigra Maine's wild blueberry industry faces competitive challenges from cultivated blueberries as well as a steep decline in the price paid to farmers.

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By Staff

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved spending up to $10 million through its “bonus buy” program to purchase Maine wild blueberries.

In a news release, Maine’s congressional delegation noted that “bonus buys help protect American farmers from unexpected market conditions by purchasing surplus goods and distributing them to food banks and other charitable institutions” and that the action was in response to their request earlier this year that the USDA help wild blueberry growers who are facing significant market challenges.

“Maine’s wild blueberry industry has been an important part of Maine’s economy and culture for centuries,” U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree and Bruce Poliquin said in their joint statement. “In recent years, however, the wild blueberry industry has faced increasing challenges from global oversupply of cultivated berries and steeply declining prices. Earlier this year, we urged the USDA to provide relief to Maine growers through a bonus buy of surplus frozen wild blueberries, and we are pleased that the department has agreed to take action. This investment to alleviate the supply issue, combined with the industry’s efforts to boost demand, will help create new opportunities for wild blueberry growers and support a bright future for this unique Maine crop.”

The funding for the emergency surplus removal of the Maine wild blueberries was awarded through the USDA’s Commodity Supplemental Food Program.

The price of frozen wild blueberries has dropped below the cost of production by as much as 60% in the last five years, creating an unsustainable situation for Maine growers. In February 2017, the Maine delegation wrote to Erin Morris, the USDA’s acting deputy administrator of the specialty crops program, to express strong support for the surplus commodity purchase of frozen Maine wild blueberries.

LePage applauds USDA's action

In a separate news release, Gov. Paul LePage applauded the announcement, noting that he wrote a letter in April to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue also encouraging the department to support for the bonus buy request submitted by the Maine Wild Blueberry Commission to eliminate a backlog of surplus berries currently in Maine processors’ freezers.

That would reduce the potential for carryover inventory from the 2016 crop and help stabilize prices, the governor stated.

The governor’s office reported that the USDA is expected to purchase up to 10 million pounds of Maine blueberries.

Nancy McBrady, executive director of the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine, characterized the USDA’s bonus buy announcement as “good news for our growers.”

“Larger crops also present us with the opportunity for more products to be developed with the Maine wild blueberry, and we are working hard to promote and market our healthy and delicious fruit both domestically and abroad,” she stated in the news release sent to Mainebiz by the governor’s office.