Leasing Crown land for wild blueberry production

• Review the interactive mapping tool to determine if the area you are interested in is eligible for consideration
• Discuss your intentions with your local Business Growth Officer  

Stage 1 – Identification of Crown land and submission of application

Applicants must identify a parcel of Crown land suitable for wild blueberry production using GPS coordinates. The parcel will be reviewed for availability and assessed for wild blueberry development potential. If the land is available and deemed suitable the application can move on to stage 2.

Application for a lease of crown land for wild blueberry production (PDF 41 KB)

Stage 2 – Business and technical plan

The applicant must submit financial information and a technical plan which includes a site development plan indicating full development within eight years. The application will only move to the next stage after staff have reviewed and are satisfied with the information.

Stage 3 – Interagency review and consultation with First Nations

The application will be subjected to review through consultation with First Nations, engagement with other relevant provincial agencies (who will evaluate applications based on their own respective jurisdiction), and other impacted stakeholders as required.

Stage 4 - Decision

A decision will be communicated to the applicant. If approved, a letter of offer will be sent containing conditions that the client must fulfill prior to the lease being issued (e.g., arranging to have the site surveyed at applicants’ expense, etc.).

Applicants must:

• be at least 19 and have all their accounts in good standing with the Province of New Brunswick. This would include having all fees paid for existing leases, having property taxes or other provincial taxes or fees paid.
• be in compliance with all of their existing leases such as ensuring windbreak requirements met, site development plans and associated timelines for other leases are on schedule, etc.
• only one application per applicant can be evaluated at one time. In the case of a joint application all parties involved are limited to that one application.
• for applicants who already operate Crown land leases, they must demonstrate that 75% of the leases they manage, or managed by companies they own must be in production. That means. they have produced at least one crop that has been commercially harvested. The other 25% must be in preproduction such as the land has been developed (e.g., stumps and brush piles removed) and is being maintained while wild blueberry plants continue to establish themselves.
• not have sold or transferred a Crown land lease to produce wild blueberry in the past five years. This includes the direct sale of the company or transfer of shares in a company that was managing a wild blueberry Crown land lease at the time of sale or transfer.

Applications should be submitted to the Business Growth Branch at [email protected]