Scorch virus continues to threaten B.C.'s blueberry crop
CBC
One day in May 2023, Anand Aujlay was walking through his eight-hectare blueberry farm in Delta, B.C, when he noticed bushes that had yellowing leaves and shrivelled berries — telltale signs of blueberry scorch.
The virus wiped out about three hectares of Didar Berry Farm's blueberry fields that year. Aujlay estimates he lost more than 45,000 kilograms of blueberries.
"It's very hard." You feel very sad because you worked on those plants for years and years, and then suddenly, this scorch virus just cleaned the field."
He's not alone.
Spread and transmitted by sap-sucking green insects called aphids, blueberry scorch has affected most blueberry farmers across the province. Scorch virus is not harmful to humans. But for blueberry bushes, it can be fatal.
Blueberries are Canada's most valuable fruit export.
According to Statistics Canada, after marketing costs, the market value of blueberries reached a record-high $364 million in 2022, followed by apples at approximately $285 million.
More than 90 per cent of those blueberries are produced in B.C., according to Agriculture Canada. On its website, the B.C. Blueberry Council says the province is home to more than 600 blueberry farms.
In an email to CBC News, Agriculture and Food Ministry spokesperson Dave Townsend said scorch virus was first detected in B.C. in 2000.
Michelle Franklin, a berry entomologist at the Agassiz Research and Development Centre, told The Early Edition the virus is widespread in the Fraser Valley.
"It does vary in that some fields have high levels of virus, and some fields don't have nearly as much," she said. "But we do have it in almost all fields."
According to Franklin, aphids, which often feed in gardens, yards and fields, transmit the virus from infected plants to new ones.
She said during the first year of infection, bushes may not show symptoms of the virus. But within five years, infected plants often die.
"These plants don't recover," she said. "We need to remove virus-infected plants so that they aren't a source for aphids to move the virus around in the field."
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