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Margaree Valley Strawberries weathers the strawberry virus outbreak

-by Rebecca Silver Slayter                    

 Ten years ago, after living away in Fredericton for decades, John Hart returned home to the Margaree Valley. He built a house on the property next door to the house where he grew up, and a few years later he began farming strawberries as a retirement venture. He wanted to take advantage of the rich farm land of Inverness County; “Back in the fifties and sixties,” he recalls, “there was a garden on every farm plot. And now there might be a garden on 5 per cent.” It took an investment of countless hours and dollars to grow a backyard garden plot into a small farm of almost 18,000 plants. And then last year, a representative from the department of agriculture arrived to his farm to sample his crop and informed him he had one of the deadly strawberry viruses that were wiping out strawberry fields across the province.

Hart, a retired hydrogeologist, was philosophical about the bad news: “If I lost it, I lost it. I’ve been a risk taker all my life—built a company, sold a company, so I understand the risk in all the things I do, and there’s no sure thing . . . You put your best effort on line and go for it.” And Hart was luckier than many other farmers. There are two distinct viruses currently affecting strawberries, and only berries infected with both become diseased and die. Hart had only one. Still, he faced a hard choice: plough up an otherwise healthy crop or let it go and hope that the second virus never showed up.

 

John Lewis is a berry specialist with Perennia, a crown agency dedicated to agricultural problem-solving and development. He and his colleagues first noticed isolated cases of virus-infected strawberries in 2011 and early 2012. However, it wasn’t until September 2012 that it became clear a full-fledged epidemic was unfolding. 

Farmers, nurseries, and agricultural specialists were initially caught off guard. “There was a time when strawberry viruses were quite prevalent,” says Lewis, but the 1956 certified plant propagation program all but eliminated the virus threat, and little monitoring or treatment had been needed since. In retrospect, Lewis believes that low levels of the viruses probably remained, just waiting for an opportunity: “We don’t know exactly what the trigger was, but we do have some evidence now that over the last ten to fifteen years, the viruses that were likely already here at low levels began to build up.”

In recent years, a combination of factors allowed the viruses to take hold. Lewis believes climate played a role, supporting larger populations of the virus vector transmitter, the strawberry aphid. Like the virus, “the aphid has always been here,” explains Lewis, “but at very low levels. But when we tested last year, it was the dominant aphid in strawberries.” The aphid enabled the spread and multiplication of the virus, until by last summer, the viruses were showing up in farms across the province, and beyond.

Lewis and his colleagues began extensive nursery testing in fall 2012, and went across the province taking samples in spring 2013. Because there is no chemical treatment for the virus, farms that had contracted both viruses had little choice but to harvest what they could and plough the rest under. The consequences were devastating. “We had about 40 per cent of a crop last year,” says Lewis. “And 300 acres were ploughed down before harvest.” The $10-million commercial farming industry had losses in the range of $5 million in 2013, while the $9-million nursery industry, which sells 95 per cent of its plants out of province, had recovered by last year, but lost $3.5 million in 2012. 

The province’s strawberry stakeholders and experts were quick to respond to the problem proactively. A federally and provincially funded replant program helped farmers make the tough decision to plough down infected fields, assisting with 70 per cent of the replant costs. “A lot of growers took out fields,” says Lewis. “They didn’t even crop them. They could have tried to salvage them, but they knew that was a risk to their new plants. There were a lot of good management decisions that were made that were painful at the time.” He says many of the infected fields, especially the worst infected ones, have now been ploughed out, and intensive testing of new plants has been introduced to ensure only healthy plants go into the ground from now on. The third part of the recovery strategy is vector management, and farmers have been urged to treat their fields for the strawberry aphid to help stop the virus spread. 

After considering his options, John Hart decided to leave his fields in and take his chances. “There’s no other growers for me to affect,” he reasoned. “I’m kind of an outlier by myself.” Cape Breton has a lower infection rate than some other parts of the province, and tests of Hart’s plants this year revealed no sign of the second virus. But the risk continues to hover over what he says has been a challenging venture from the start. He added some new plants this year and treated his fields, and now, as the strawberry season begins, Hart hopes his luck will hold out.

Other provinces and states are now looking to Nova Scotia as a leader in managing the strawberry virus outbreak. “We picked it up earlier,” concedes Lewis, “and yeah, we got all the bad press early, but I tell you, we’re way ahead of everybody else now in terms of recovery.” The high infection levels of fall 2012 and spring 2013 have already begun to recede considerably. It will take a sustained effort to prevent a resurgence of the virus, but Lewis is cautiously optimistic. He doesn’t want anyone to get a false sense of security, because more hard choices lie ahead—without continued plant monitoring and aphid treatment, the ground that’s been gained could easily be lost. However, he believes that with hard work, a little luck, and continued prudence, provincial growers will see a successful recovery over the coming years.

Part of the recovery will involve public perception. Some consumers were nervous when news of the outbreak first spread, though of course, like any plant virus, the strawberry viruses have no effect whatsoever on humans. And thanks to the newly planted fields, there is especially good news this year for strawberry lovers: “We’re looking at the best strawberry fields I’ve seen in Nova Scotia in a long, long time,” says Lewis. “Quality is up. I’ve never had strawberries as good as this year. This year, the berries are so sweet, they’re just like candy.” 

For those looking to taste this year’s crop for themselves, Margaree Valley Strawberries opened to the public today. Hart’s farm is located at 2048 West Big Intervale Road, Margaree Valley. Call 248-2496 for U-Pick open times or to place an order.


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The Inverness Oran
15767 Central Avenue. P.O. Box 100
Inverness, Nova Scotia. B0E 1N0
Tel.: 1 (902) 258-2253. Fax: 1 (902) 258-2632
Email: [email protected]