The University of MaineIn 2020, UMaine Associate Professor of Agriculture Rachel Schattman gave a presentation to the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine’s Wild Blueberry Advisory Committee on how different farming systems do or do not adapt to changing environmental conditions. Bruce Hall, then head of the Wyman’s agroecology department, approached Schattman afterwards to suggest collaborating on an experiment that would layer precipitation and temperature changes on wild blueberries. He pitched the idea to Wyman’s and together with Schattman pitched it to Diane Rowland, dean of UMaine’s College of Earth, Life, and Health Sciences. An agroecologist herself, Rowland wholly supported it.
The Wyman’s Wild Blueberry Research and Innovation Center opened in 2022 on Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station land in Old Town. “We want to further the education of people who are studying sustainable agriculture in the state of Maine and get them hands-on engagement with this iconic Maine crop,” Wyman’s director of marketing Colleen Craig says. The agroecology team selected 40 plants from different areas of Wyman’s farms in Cherryfield and Deblois and replanted them at the center in 78 raised beds that simulate the gravelly, well-drained, and low-nutrient soils in which wild blueberries typically thrive.
The team uses a metered hose to test three rainfall simulations, including one that mimics the wet springs and periodic drought that climate models forecast for the end of the century. Greenhouse-like structures protect the plants from ambient rainfall. Small climate chambers — six-sided plexiglass open-topped domes — are placed over a third of the plants to raise ambient temperature by a couple degrees. Another third of the plants are covered by domes outfitted with heating coils to further elevate the temperature. The final third are left open to the environment. “We’re looking at what the combined effects could be of both increasing temperatures and changing rainfall patterns,” Schattman says.
Fifty-four of the beds contain a single plant, and 24 have four plants to mimic the way wild blueberries grow in a field. The goal is to compare how changing environmental conditions affect plants growing in isolation to those growing in a community. “The reason this is really fascinating is that each wild blueberry plant is assumed to be a genetic individual, and we’re including genomic analysis in our study,” Schattman says.
Faculty, graduate students, and research technicians will collect data on pollination, nectar quality, bud and leaf counts, leaf area, chlorophyll content, and whether fungi are colonizing the roots. End-of-season data collection includes harvest amount and sugar content of the berries. “We know wild blueberries are a really tough plant and they’re going to survive,” Schattman says. “The question is, what’s the balance between overall crop health and commercial viability?” She hopes to complete the research by 2028.
“The team is brilliant at what they’re doing,” Craig says. “It’s going to have such an impact on this industry.” Likewise, for UMaine, the support of an industry partner brings deeper meaning to the study, Schattman says. “I am most excited to bring our learnings back to farmers and hopefully give them something meaningful they could use to improve their operations and their livelihoods,” she says. “That’s ultimately what it’s about.”