Dramatic aerial images of large-scale blueberry farming on the Acadian Peninsula has sparked a renewed political debate about the Higgs government's agricultural policy.

The Opposition Liberals have called for a moratorium on further expansion of the growing sector, something Progressive Conservative agricultural minister Margaret Johnson has rejected.

At the same time, Green MLA Kevin Arseneau has linked the blueberry controversy to the shrinking number of locally owned farms in the province and the current government's support for industrial-level production.

"This government continues, like successive governments, to put a lot of thought and energy into intensification of production, not the diversification of production," he said in the legislature this week.

"What's going to help to feed New Brunswickers is the diversification of production."

Green MLA Kevin Arseneau connected the expansion of the blueberry industry to more small-scale farms going out of buisness. (Ed Hunter/CBC)

Expansion plans by Oxford Frozen Foods on the Acadian Peninsula gained new attention earlier this month after Radio-Canada aired striking drone images of the company's existing industrial-scale blueberry farming.

The company has bought up several blueberry farms in the region, and critics say its growing presence puts downward pressure on prices paid to the remaining local growers.

Arseneau cited Statistics Canada data showing that one in five locally owned farms closed their doors in New Brunswick between 2016 and 2021. 

That means a dwindling base of local farms and a growing role for larger corporate-owned operations, he said — an assertion backed by statistics from the National Farmers Union.

"We're losing small farms," said the NFU's executive director in New Brunswick Suzanne Fournier.

Arseneau recently introduced a motion calling for more help from government to support local products, something Premier Blaine Higgs said this week he was reluctant to subsidize because farms are subject to market forces like any other businesses.

Nova Scotia-based Oxford Frozen Foods has been expanding on New Brunswick's Acadian Peninsula. (CBC)

"It's the supply and demand concept. Business speaks for itself in terms of can it be viable or can it not be viable?" the premier said.

"To say that the government should try to fund all kinds of different small farms — that could be a pretty tall order."

Johnson spoke in the legislature and to reporters the same day about the New Brunswick Local Food and Beverages Strategy, launched in 2021.

It includes a plan to get more local produce in provincial schools, hospitals, long-term care homes and jails.

Johnson says farm cash receipts are up, despite the dwindling number of farmers. She attributes that trend to aging farmers with children unwilling to take over. 

"What happens in that case when you're at the end of your career and you want to go on and do something else, you tend to sell off your farm to a larger farm," she said.

Agriculture, Aquaculture, and Fisheries Minister Margaret Johnson said the dwindling number of local farms can be attributed to aging farmers with no family to take over, who sell their land to large farms upon retirement. (Radio-Canada)

Fournier said other factors are also pushing farmers out, including labour shortages and more frequent extreme weather.

She said while farm revenue is up, net income is down, a reflection of farmers needing to use more of what they bring in to pay their bills.

The province has been trying to get younger farmers into the sector by working with banks to educate them about financing options. 

Arseneau said that's not enough to reverse the trend of corporate consolidation exemplified by the growing Oxford Foods presence in the peninsula's blueberry sector.

Nova Scotia-based Oxford's potential expansion onto an 18,000-hectare parcel of land that used to be a federal military firing range has stirred local opposition from hunters and four-wheeler drivers.

Arseneau's motion called for "completely stopping the destruction of the Tracadie shooting range."

The drone visuals of Oxford Frozen Foods' operations this month led the Liberals to call for a moratorium on expansion. Leader Susan Holt said she supported the sector but wanted a pause so local communities could reach a consensus.

A spokesperson for Oxford Frozen Foods did not respond to a CBC request for comment Friday.

Oxford bought the former Mega Bleu processor in the region in 2003 and has ramped up its operations with support from PC and Liberal governments that have given them access to Crown land.

Oxford Frozen Foods have expanded their growing areas in northeastern New Brunswick, including a former military firing range has caused controversy with local hunters and four-wheelers. (Louis-Phillipe Trozzo)

The company opened a 40-million-kilogram cold-storage facility near Saint-Isidore in 2016. 

Johnson said opposition to development on the former military range isn't universal.

"I think we've got a very vocal group that is anti-blueberry on the Tracadie range because it is their playground, historically," she said.

"But I think there is a population on the Acadian Peninsula that is also interested in developing the blueberry industry. Now they may not be vocal." 

Higgs said this week that the consolidation of blueberry production by Oxford was worthy of support because it's a good example of a "niche opportunity" made possible by ideal soil conditions in the northeast.

"I think that whole view is connected: more growers, more sustainable growers, more access to market, more access to supply. And it's all good." 

Amid the closure of provincial borders during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Higgs government touted food self-sufficiency as a goal, to make New Brunswick less vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.

Premier Blaine Higgs said the Oxford consolidation of farming land was worth government support because it can increase supply for New Brunswick markets. (Ed Hunter/CBC)

But Higgs said supporting small, unprofitable local farmers for the sake of it would be "a pretty slippery slope for any government to follow on any sort of routine basis."

Arseneau, however, isn't calling for subsidies for money-losing operations, but for measures to stimulate more demand for locally grown products in the province, including firmer buying targets for the provincial institutions under Johnson's program.

"Baby steps. Baby steps," he said of the program as it exists now. "But it's not enough."

It's also proposing a seven-fold increase for a fungicide in raspberries.

Two public consultations are underway, one of which ended Tuesday. The other is ongoing until September 28.

Federal officials say there is no health risk.

Lac-Saint-Jean, Que., blueberry farmer and president of the Quebec association of blueberry producers Daniel Gobeil said he was astonished to hear about the proposals.

Producers never asked Health Canada for the increases, he said.

Quebec blueberry farmer Daniel Gobeil says more pesticides are the opposite of what most producers in the province want. (Radio-Canada)

"On the contrary," said Gobeil, in a French-language interview with Radio-Canada. "Our members are increasingly going organic."

Donald Arseneault, executive director of NB Blueberries, said New Brunswick producers did not make the request either.

Arsenault also said most New Brunswick producers sell their berries to Oxford Frozen Foods, which provides producers with a list of acceptable pesticides and herbicides. He said neither of these chemicals are on that list.

Documents on the Health Canada website indicate the federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency has proposed increasing the residue limit for the fungicide metalaxyl in blueberries from three parts per million to 10 parts per million.

For the insecticide sulfoxaflor, it has proposed increasing the limit from 0.7 ppm to 2 ppm.

For raspberries, the metalaxyl limit would increase from 0.2 ppm to 1.5 ppm.

The limit for the fungicide metalaxyl in raspberries would increase more than seven fold. (Tina Lovgreen/Radio-Canada)

The president of the Quebec Association of Strawberry and Raspberry Producers, David Lemire, was also unaware of the proposed change. 

"This is really not a request from Quebec," he said.

"To me, this is incomprehensible."

"We have no interest in increasing that limit," said Lemire, "because it could allow products that don't meet the current standards to enter the local market."

David Lemire of the Quebec Association of Strawberry and Raspberry Producers says he thinks pesticide manufacturers probably asked for the increase. (Radio-Canada)

During a recent consultation on glyphosate, changes were said to be necessary because of import and sales requirements. 

But documents for the current consultations do not specify a reason for these proposed changes.

The documents don't name the applicants, either.

In the case of glyphosate, the applicant was Bayer, the manufacturer of the herbicide Roundup.

Health Canada did not answer Radio-Canada's questions about the current applicants.

But a group representing pesticide manufacturers, CropLife, recently acknowledged product registrants ask for reviews of residue limits on a regular basis.

Metalaxyl is a fungicide sprayed on raspberry and blueberry crops to prevent root rot and sulfoxaflor is an insecticide used to kill aphids, but it's also toxic to bees. (Radio-Canada)

The American company which markets sulfoxaflor, Corteva Agriscience, said it did not request the increase for blueberries now being considered.

"It's a bizarre situation," said Louise Vandelac, a professor and pesticide specialist at Université du Québec à Montréal's Institute of Environmental Sciences.

"There's a complete lack of transparency," she said.

"It's a vicious circle," said Vandelac, "when industry data is used to evaluate industry requests."

Louise Vandelac, environmental science professor and pesticide expert, says there's a lack of transparency in the process. (Radio-Canada)

The applicant provided data that doesn't specify how or where field tests were done.

It said the highest average metalaxyl residue found in raspberries was 0.686 ppm. 

Ottawa is proposing a limit that's more than twice that rate. 

Health Canada's document says the "risks" of that are "acceptable to human health and the environment."

Metalaxyl is a fungicide that helps control root rot. It is marketed under the Orondis-Gold brand by the Swiss multinational Syngenta.

(Radio-Canada)

It is a systemic pesticide, which is absorbed by the leaves, stems and roots.

"The product circulates inside a plant," explained Louise Hénault-Ethier, research associate at Quebec's National Institute for Scientific Research and director of the Water Earth Environment Research Centre.

"The flesh of the whole fruit may possibly contain the pesticide, if we are talking about a systemic product," she said.

Sulfoxaflor is an insecticide that helps control aphids and bedbugs. It is marketed under the Closer brand by the American multinational Corteva.

(Radio-Canada)

According to the Quebec pesticide database, sulfoxaflor is "toxic to bees." In addition, "neurodevelopmental effects" were observed in laboratory rats. It's not known whether those effects would also apply to humans.

Canadians consume an average of 1.1 kg of blueberries per year and 1.43 kg through processed products, according to Statistics Canada.

In its assessment, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency takes into account the average food consumption, but Henault-Éthier and Vandelac question this approach. 

They are worried about the diet of certain Indigenous populations and residents of Lac-Saint-Jean, who eat more wild blueberries.