I want to thank you, Mr. Chair and the members of the committee, for giving us the opportunity to be here today. I'm very grateful for that.
I'm the member of the legislature for Cumberland North.
Cumberland County is the hub of wild blueberry production and processing in the province. It's at the forefront of change, development, and growth in the industry. It's home to the biggest and most successful producer and exporter of wild blueberries, Oxford Frozen Foods. I know you're going to hear from their representative, Mr. Hoffman, later today. They've been instrumental in making Nova Scotia wild blueberries the most important export fruit crop in Nova Scotia.
In 2015, our province exported over $122 million worth of wild blueberries. That's 32% of all of Nova Scotia's agrifood exports.
Blueberry producers, large and small alike, have really stepped up their game. Our government is supporting them to employ best practices, and this has resulted in greatly increased productivity.
We're ready to compete on world markets. Unfortunately, one of the results of this increased productivity has been low prices. This has resulted in a very difficult year that has seen many of our growers leaving crops in the field.
To counter this recent trend, we need government support to help us gain increased access to markets in places like Asia. This is how we're going to increase demand and reward producers for their hard work and innovation. This is something the industry has talked about publicly, and I know you're going to hear later this morning from members of the Wild Blueberry Producers Association of Nova Scotia. We are all actively encouraging the federal government to use its leverage in Asian markets to gain more access for our blueberries. This is what will start expanding market access through trade agreements.
I know how hard Minister Colwell and other members of our government are working with industry and other government partners, such as the federal government, to make this happen.
On behalf of the communities and the producers in my riding, I also encourage the federal government to make that a priority.
Thank you once again for having me here today.