Saskatchewan wild blueberries selling at an all-time high

Pickers in the La Ronge area are collecting a record amount of blueberries this year.

Online advertisements via social media show some pickers selling their berries for as much as $60 per pail or large Ziplock bag. Grace Thompson has been picking for more than 40 years and she explained the price has steadily risen over time.

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“It was less than $25 per pail about 20 years ago,” she said.

“It went up throughout years. It went to $35 to $40, then last year it went to $50 and now this year it’s $60 because they are very huge. They are not just the regular size. They are way huge.”

Thompson, who picks relatively close to home, believes the blueberry crop is so plentiful this year is because of ideal rainfall with warm temperatures. She also thinks ash from last summer’s wildfires may also have contributed.

“They are all over. I haven’t gotten out of town, but I hear there’s lots all over everywhere because of the rain. There’s actually berries where there’s burn areas. In some places they regrew and they are just huge around there. There’s a lot of berry pickers everywhere.”

Ideal weather conditions have led to a healthy wild blueberry crop in 2026. (Julie Powder/Submitted)

Julie Powder has also been picking blueberries for decades. She began picking about three weeks ago and expects to continue until the end of September.

“We have our camp set up about 20 minutes from La Ronge and we usually go about 10 minutes from here. Sometimes we go further down about another hour from here after we do this area,” Powder noted.

“They are amazing this year. A lot of them are quite big and they are sweeter tasting. They are really good.”

Powder added she sells to the same buyers every year and that $60 per pail is the highest she has ever seen it. She said people are willing to pay the higher price because the quality and the taste of a wild blueberry is just far more superior than what can be bought at a store.

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