Wild blueberries –
the next Saskatchewan goldmine?

Bernard Mueller, EDAI-board-member, participated at the Green Lake meeting on October 19th 2009

Bernard why do you think blueberries from Saskatchewan present a special economic opportunity on the market?
Hand-picked, wild blueberries from the wilderness of Northern Saskatchewan are
high-quality, pesticide-free products, their taste being incomparably more aromatic than the bigger ones sold in supermarkets from high-yield plantations. They are a wonderful treat no gourmet can resist.
The economic opportunity exists because there is a growing niche-market for such products. Especially in cities, more consumers with higher incomes are prepared to pay a premium price for better tasting and healthier high-quality food products.

(...) An added marketing opportunity for Saskatchewan’s wilderness products would be the newly created „FAIRWILD“– label.
The internationally published register of producers adopting this label makes such products known globally, with a minimum of marketing investment, in the fast growing marketing niches of natural/wild/healthytasty and socially/ecologically responsible production.

Why is the Saskatchewan-Green Lake region ideal to catch this market opportunity?
As one example: Just a short trip from Green Lake, Ric and Rose showed us a burnt-down forest, 30 to 40km in size, with an abundance of wild blueberries, Saskatoon berries, high and low-bush cranberries, and plants that can be used for aromatic herbal teas.
In order to harvest this free gifts from nature, a lot of harvesters are needed. And there are! Unemployment, especially aming Metis people and First Nations, is extremely high, with all the problems arising from this situation. But so many people are highly motivated to participate in harvesting, but up to now, except for a few individual harvesters, there has been a lack of opportunities to market berries at a fair price and to process them locally.

What kind of processing berries do you mean?
One example are the classics, like jams, jellies and sauces. Another, newer possibility are wild blueberry capsules. Or great tasting wild-fruit bars, made by combining dried wild fruits with Canada’s unique wild rice, in popped form. I haven’t been able to see many such products on the market, yet. Or wild blueberry desserts, the kind Rose Richardson was offering at the Green Lake meeting on October 19th, where these issues were discussed. The treats could be frozen and sold to the demanding gourmets…

What makes EDAI so optimistic about market opportunities for wild fruits and plants?
I was personally involved with a similar situation in Burkina Faso/Africa. There, that local goldmine of wild grown mangos was tapped by setting up an association of mango growers and harvesters, which organized harvesting, preparing, drying and marketing, providing job opportunities for hundreds of women in remote villages, to this day.
Same happened with wild rice, processed by a Native company from Ontario for many years.
Another First Nation enterprise in Northwestern Ontario made a special high-bush cranberry sauce that EDAI helped introduce to Europe. Swiss gourmets are still asking for it…
Our experience with such projects, combining „wild“ with „Fair Trade“ is that of a winning combination. The growth rates for (only) Fair Traded products in North America are astounding, even Starbucks coffee now is mostly Fair Traded, an important sales argument to mark a difference!

What does it take to „tap the goldmine“ of Saskatchewan’s wild fruits and plants?
One is the right timing.
EDAI is convinced that the time is now, to establish a market presence, before others too are taking advantage of the new FAIRWILD market-opportunity, now still in its pioneering phase.
The investment needed by Canadian sources is comparatively low, as a similar venture in Ontario has shown:
A small building plus the equipment for berry and plant cleaning, refrigerating, cooking, drying and packaging. Important are managing skills, quality assurance and staff training. However, the key for sucess is the clear vision of where to go and what to achieve, motivating the different actors to work together, plus communication/marketing abilities – all of which Ric and Rose Richardson already practice, investing their personal time and money, as yet unpaid.

What interest is there in Saskatchewan for tapping the „wildberry-goldmine“?
It could well be that the meeting at Green Lake which I attended on October 19th (see report by Ric Richardson on frontpage) kicked off a real interest by local and regional officials and representatives of provincial organizations, who were either present or indicated their interest after being informed by the media.
However, it remains an open question whether Saskatchewan’s political actors are fully aware that tapping the „wildberry- goldmine“ is an extremely cost-effective way for creating new job opportunities, thereby counteracting the dramatic decrease of population/increases of social problems in a remote area.
Green Lake could become a positive test-case!

GREEN LAKE, SASK.
CANADA:
Meeting for regional Industry Development
of Non Timber Forest Products
Oct.-19-09 Saskatchewan/Canada

A meeting was held to discuss the opportunities that are offered by using products derived from the Traditional knowledge of the Aboriginal peoples of Northern Saskatchewan, in order to develop economic benefits for northern residents of our region.   The meeting was attended by 18 people, including some community members, Traditional land users, representatives of provincial government departments, a Metis local, as well as Bernard Mueller, representing EDAI (Economic Development for Amerindians.)

The meeting was co-chaired by Ric and Rose Richardson, a Metis couple who have been working toward the development of an economically viable Non Timber Forest Product industry, to benefit their region.  Rose Richardson opened the meeting with a Prayer for guidance, help and unity in the meeting.

A presentation was made to inform the people of the work that has been done, which has led to being in a position to move forward and develop the processing center, in Green Lake, which would serve harvesters from north western Saskatchewan.  The importance of recognizing the Traditional knowledge of the Aboriginal people of the region was stressed, as well as the need to incorporate “Fair Trade” standards in the development. 

(...) Bernard Mueller was introduced and informed the participants of the role that EDAI would be willing to play, in supporting this initiative and in providing assistance with such things as marketing and consultation.  The possibility was also discussed as to accessing professional equipment for the processing center.  Bernard will look into this and will advise about this possibility, at a later date.

The concept of organizing a working group to further develop this initiative was discussed and all parties in attendance agreed that this was a valuable next step, in order to co-ordinate the accessing of funding to move the project along.  Product development was discussed and it was determined that the operation must involve processing a number of different plants, many of which could be made into value-added products, using the same equipment.  The reason for including a variety of plants, such as Blueberries, Cranberries, Saskatoon berries and Wild Rice is that there have to be opportunities for value added processing that can be utilized in times that raw material supplies are limited, due to poor crop years and other factors that could affect the availability of raw materials. 
The business would have to be developed, either as a limited partnership or a co-operative and would be a “for profit” company.

Some product development has been undertaken by the Richardsons and samples of encapsulated Blueberries, Blueberry jam and Blueberry flakes were displayed and processes were described to the participants. 

Alex Maurice, President of Sipisishk Metis Local #37, from Beauval, Saskatchewan brought up many valuable insights and expressed that his Local would support this industry development.

Provincial government representatives present included representation from the Department of Agriculture, First Nations and Metis Relations, and the Ministry of the Environment.  All of these people are supportive of this type of development and have provided assistance, in the past, for this work.

Most of those present expressed an interest in being personally or professionally involved in assisting with the project’s success.

After the meeting was adjourned, all of the participants were treated to a variety of baked goods, made by Rose and all of which were using Blueberries, in one form or another.  Blueberry pies, cheesecakes, tarts, cookies and bannock were well received and many of the people took some home, as well.

Ric Richardson

(Ric and Rose Richardson’s project for blueberry-harvesting and processing triggered EDAI-boardmember Bernard Mueller’s visit to Green Lake)

What is the role of EDAI in this?
By its know-how and experience, Zurich based Economic Development for Amerindians functions as a catalyst for economic improvement, offering both its consultant-services and providing a platform for exchanging ideas and information. A European organization, EDAI is capable of perceiving local opportunities in today’s global context, assisting pioneering small Native entrepreneurs in devising niche strategies, based on local resources.