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Blueberries have grown wild in Maine for 10,000 years. These aren't your typical grocery store blueberries. They're smaller, sweeter, and healthier. They're the backbone of a valuable industry in Maine, especially for Indigenous groups who've returned for generations to hand-harvest the fields. But in 2025, wild blueberry farmers in Maine experienced one of the worst seasons this decade, losing $28 million. So what happened? And how are farmers, processors, and scientists racing to save their ancestral wild blueberry?
You can see more of David Stess' work at:
00:00 - Intro
00:28 - Wild v. Bred Blueberries
02:18 - Processing at Wyman's
03:56 - Growing Wild Blueberries
05:02 - Han Harvesting: A Dying Art Form
06:47 - Tariffs On Machine Harvesters
08:02 - Why Maine Farmers Are Losing Millions
09:26 - Inside A Passamaquoddy Harvesting Campsite
11:53 - Wild Blueberries Are Sacred To Wabanki
13:08 - A Photographer Archives the Barrens for 30 years
15:57 - How Tribal Blueberry Land Was Stolen
18:12 - Wyman's Diversifying
18:25 - Scientists Fighting For Wild Blueberries
19:53 - Irrigation Could Save Wild Blueberries
22:08 - Emergency Funding
22:35 - A Superfood On The Rise
23:21 - Credits
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#blueberries #wildblueberries #maine #usagriculture #bigbusiness
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