Maine’s agriculture production is always at the mercy of the weather and the blossoms on this year’s wild blueberry crop had experts thinking this would be a bumper blueberry harvest.

However, this year’s wet spring in the mid-coast region challenged the crop.

Wild blueberry specialist with the University of Maine, Dr. David Yarborough, says the rain caused pollination and blight problems on the mid-coast, but the pollination was better Downeast with the help of 75,000 bee hives.

Dr. Yarborough says the biggest blueberry yield in recent memory was back in 2000 when about 110 million pounds were harvested. He says this crop is running about average.

Dr. Yarborough says an average crop usually yields around 90 million pounds.  Harvesting will begin in earnest as soon as a majority of the berries are ripened.

 

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