A fledgling Wawa commercial blueberry grower is banking on a bumper crop to make headway in the competitive Ontario market.
“I’m just trying to get a sustainable yield every year and carry on from there,” said Trevor Laing, who together with his wife Tracey, owns and operates Level Plains Enterprises.
He’s entering his fourth year of production and wants a repeat of his 2011 crop when he pulled in about 1,000 pounds per acre.
After the last two mediocre to forgettable crops, “we’re expecting to do a lot better this year,” said Laing, the former owner of a Wawa forestry services firm. “We had a ton of snow, now we need a hot summer. You get the heat, you get the sugar.”
Now marketed under the banner of Algoma Highlands Wild Blueberry Farm, the low-bush blueberry plantation operates on land the couple purchased in 2006.
The 430-acre operation is on flat, sandy soil that was the ancient bottom of Lake Superior and is ideal for blueberries.
The harvest starts sometime between early August and late September, depending upon the weather, and employs as many as 25.
The company does its own packaging and labelling of berries that sell in five and 2.5-pound boxes, and pint-sized containers.
Laing made his first appearance at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto last November, exhibiting a new value-added product line of blueberry syrup, jam and barbecue sauce.
“We sold out at the Royal. We felt if we could get people to try it, we would sell it.”
The Laings’ product is shipped to the Ontario Food Terminal and some grocery-related southern Ontario clients. The value-added product has found its way into shelves in about 50 stores, mostly in the North.
Fresh berries can’t be provided year-round so they rely heavily on large freezer units for storage.
“If we get a good harvest, we can freeze it so we can run on our value-added products for at least two years. We can keep working even if we get a bad year.”
Laing is hoping to boost his yield by adding more bees to do his business.
“Wherever the hives were last year, we had a lot higher production. Bees make a difference. This year, we’re bringing in 40 hives (from 10) and the plan is to go to 200.”
As this region’s only commercial producer, transportation costs remain the company’s biggest challenge. And Laing said Ontario has a ways to go to match up more established growers in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec.
“They have a bigger network; we have no network here.”
Laing said the Quebec government leases out public land to growers for a dollar an acre. “In Ontario, that’s unheard of.”
With a new website (www.algomahighlands.ca) slated to launch in July, Laing’s future plans include starting a winery and outlet store in 2016, and he plans to build a commercial kitchen.
An additional 50 acres has been set aside for some experimental planting of hops and haskap berries.
“I’m really hoping for big things and I’m working hard at it.”
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