Evaluating Precision Agricultural Technologies in Wild Blueberry Cropping Systems to Increase Farm Profitability and Reduce Environmental Risks

Canada is a leading producer of wild blueberries with more than 50% of the world's production. Wyman's ofPrince Edward Island (PEI) are the world's finest wild blueberry producer with more than 10,000 acres of theirown fields in PEI and Maine. Wyman's of PEI is recognized as setting the quality standard for premium frozenfruit. Currently Wyman's and other leading producers apply their agrochemicals uniformly to their crops, withinadequate attention being given to the substantial variation in soil/plant characteristics, topographic features,fruit yield and presence of weed and bare spots (30-50% of the field area) within the wild blueberry fields. Thisuniform application is a problem at it results in either over- or under-application of the products. This projectwill examine the implementation of precision agriculture (PA) technologies for spot application ofagrochemicals to address the problem. Wild blueberry fields will be selected and fertilizer (only in plant areas),herbicides (on weed patches only) and fungicides (on plant areas only) will be applied in a spot specific fashionusing variable rate sprayer and spreader developed by the PA team at Dalhousie University. Lysimeters andammonia huts will be installed in the selected fields to evaluate the impact of spot applications on sub-surfacewater contamination and air quality. Fruit yield samples will be collected to examine the impact of spotapplications on crop productivity. Results of this study will be compared with the traditional uniformapplication. Anticipated outcomes are to optimize plant nutrient availability, improve crop productivity/yield,increase profitability by reduced production costs, reduced nutrient leaching, and mitigate environmental risks.Overall, increasing the sustainability of the Wyman's blueberry fields. This study will be very useful andsignificant for Wyman's to improve their company and goodwill among the producers and processors globally.This is also an important step for Wyman's to address industry's priority to reduce agrochemical use by 40%and increase harvestable berry yield by 33%.