Blueberries and the cannons

When I was growing up in Cloverdale most of the farms around here produced corn, lettuce, potatoes, and other vegetables. Blueberries came on the scene in the early to mid seventies. And with them came the battle cries of the propane cannons that the farmers believed would scare away the birds intent on eating the profits. But after awhile the birds got used to the noise. Fake propane cannons weren't going to stop a hungry flock of birds from chowing down on fresh blueberries. During the summer the Surrey Leader published letters from Cloverdale residents annoyed at the noise. Particularly annoyed at the farmers who left their cannons running all night long. I remember those nights!

The city has noise bylaws but enforcing them is not an easy task. Many times the farmers who've set up the propane cannons leased the fields and did not live on site. Catching the farmers at night to turn off their cannons was pretty much impossible.

As the years progressed some blueberry farmers found other ways to protect their crops. The most effective, and expensive, way to protect their blueberry crops from hungry birds is setting up netting over the fields. Also effective and less expensive and quieter than the cannons is setting up brightly colored tin foil to flap in the breeze. Add in a few fake hawks on a kite string. And in some cases, live hawks who are trained to stay in one area.

But some farmers still use the old propane cannons. We hear them going off starting around 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. Oh, well. Story of my life during the summertime in Cloverdale.

And as is typical for this time of the year the Surrey Leader is publishing letters and stories of residents around Cloverdale who are complaining of the noise. Interestingly the complaints are coming from residents who live in the vicinity of 32nd Avenue west of 168th Street and up through the Morgan Heights and Rosemary Heights areas. In other words, fairly recently built subdivisions, some built within the past 3 years.

Its the old problem of developing some of the farm land and the people who move into these new neighborhoods. The farmers were there first. These propane cannons have been firing for 30 years, long before Morgan Heights was even a figment of someone's imagination.

Has the City of Surrey allowed too much residential development too close to established blueberry farms? They say no. But look around Cloverdale. Many of the old established farms from when I was a kid are long gone, replaced with condos, business centres, and houses on postage stamp sized lots.