It's another bad year for blueberry picking, Sudbury vendor says

The middle of July is often seen as the peak season for blueberries. But for Sudbury vendors who sell the fruit, it's looking to be slim pickings for this year's crop.

Arthur Choquette has been picking and selling blueberries in the city for more than 30 years. He often picks fromblueberry patches near Maley Drive. But he's not happy with what he sees there.

"The size is very small and the patches are 90 per cent empty," he said,describing the blueberries that have already grown out.

"There's maybe five-to-10 per cent of berries on the whole patch. There's nothing there, so that's an indication that the drought has taken place for the berries."

Choquette says the berries haven't been growing at their usual rate because of the lack of rain in the long range forecast.

"Through the month of May and June, I think we got 30 per cent of the rain that we'llnormally get. Just in the prime [time] when the berries need the rain to produce, they didn't get it."

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Choquette, who sells his products on Highway 69 each year, says blueberry pickers can make up to $40,000during the blueberry season in a good year.

He says he is worried about how this will affect his business. Thelast good year for blueberry sales was in 2011, he adds.

"I'm very concerned, because it also impacts my living and impacts the living of a lot of people in the area who depend on this revenue to get them through the winter [and]through another season," he said.

"It also helps the local merchants, because, if they have money in their pockets, they're going to be spending and it's going to keep the local economy going."

The Sudbury vendor estimates that this season will not be much better than last year's crop, which also saw a poor blueberry supply.

He added that this year's crop is already running two to three weeks behind and will need a week of rain to catch up. However, he doesn't think that will happen.

"The long range forecast until the end of July is no rain unlessa lot of thunder showers pop up right on top of the mountain here," he said. "But there's practically no clouds in sight, no rain clouds ... nothing."