Nancy Chong
Yet Chong Farm
Blueberries, Bees, and Better Soil: Yet Chong Farms Embraces the Blueberry Rest Set-Aside Program
Nancy Chong of Yet Chong Farms Inc. (more commonly known as Howe Chong Farms) grows blueberries on her family farm in Delta, BC. The farm started out as a potato and vegetable farm and gradually transitioned to blueberry production beginning in 1990.
Until recently, none of the original berry fields had been replanted. However, with better producing varieties available and challenges arising from the scorch virus, they decided to start replanting some of their older fields. “We took out eight acres first, about three, four years ago” says Nancy. “At first, we didn't know what to do with the field and someone mentioned that we should look into the set-aside program from DFWT until we can figure out what to do. So, I looked into it, and it really has been great for us.” She has now planted set-asides in portions of three different blueberry fields.
The DFWT Blueberry Rest program provides cost-share support for farmers who have removed blueberry plants to grow a set-aside or cover crop in their fields while waiting to replant. Set-asides consist of a mix of species seeded in the spring and left to grow for one to three years. Instead of leaving the field empty while waiting to replant, the set-aside provides many benefits to the soil, supports pollination, and creates wildlife habitat.
Asked about her experience with the Blueberry Rest Set-aside program, Nancy says “Well, I think it's a wonderful idea” and adds that this practice is particularly important in regions like Delta, which have heavy clay soils that can lead to compaction issues. Blueberries, as a perennial crop, grow in the same field for many years, and repeated use of farm equipment can cause soil compaction, which may impact root development.
Once the old blueberry plants were removed, Yet Chong Farms took advantage of the chance to re-level the field, to help improve drainage, before planting the set-aside. The DFWT Laser Levelling program helps share the cost of laser levelling with farmers in Delta.
With the help of a local friend, Nancy seeded her set-asides with a diverse mix of species. The mix included tillage radish and turnips that dig deep into the soil to help reduce compaction, phacelia and sunflowers which have beautiful flowers and attract pollinators, and perennial grasses and clovers which provide cover and habitat for multiple years. Having a mix of plants growing in the field rather than leaving bare soil has many benefits including reducing soil erosion, improving soil structure, adding organic matter and soil carbon, as well as feeding the soil organisms. These set-asides also provide important habitat for above ground wildlife, including raptors and owls. The hope is that the set-aside will “really help the soil and hopefully the success of the next planting”.
When asked if she has observed any impacts of the set-asides on adjacent blueberry fields, Nancy says “I think it does help because it keeps the wild bumblebees around longer and through the winter because there's a source of food for them throughout the year and so they're more inclined to stay. I think it really helps from that perspective.”
Blueberry Rest Set-asides are meant to be a temporary measure (lasting from one to three years), after which fields are returned to cash crop production. One of Nancy’s set-aside fields has now been taken out of set-aside and was replanted with blueberries last spring. In addition to growing the pollinator set-aside, the growers added soil supplements and used updated planting techniques to ensure the new blueberry bushes get a strong start. “So far it looks really good”, says Nancy. “The plants have almost doubled in size in less than a year and are looking healthy so far. We’ll know more as time goes by, but the plants can’t thrive without good soil, and really it's just more growth than I've ever seen in such a short period of time.”
The set-aside program was a good fit for Yet Chong Farms Inc. because they were not in a hurry to replant. Replanting is expensive and choosing new varieties is a big decision. The set-aside program “bought us some time to think over and decide what the best approach is, and in the meantime, helped us get the soil to a good healthy state for the next planting” says Nancy. Additionally, at the time they removed the old blueberry bushes, there was a two-to-three-year waitlist to buy new plants, so even if they had wanted to, they wouldn’t have been able to replant right away.
Nancy found the DFWT Blueberry Rest cost-share program helpful because it covered some of the costs of seeding and provided some income from the set-aside fields while they were out of production, making the practice economically feasible. “And so having this funding made a really big difference and made it easy for us to decide what to do because if we did not have this funding we may have had to rent out the field, and depending on what crop was grown, it might actually be taking nutrients away from our soil. Whereas here, I'm improving the soil for our benefit when we do replant. So that's huge. And the program makes it possible so we can actually afford to do that.”
Nancy says she would “totally, 100%” recommend the use of set-asides to other growers
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