Maine blueberry industry reels from drought, frost, virus

Maine blueberry industry reels from drought, frost, virus

SeattlePI.com

Published

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A late spring frost, a devastating drought and labor troubles wrought by the coronavirus pandemic conspired to make 2020 a difficult year for the wild blueberry producers who harvest the fruit in the nation's northeastern corner.

America's producers of wild blueberries are largely located in Maine, where the blueberry industry has battled fungal plant diseases and erratic market conditions in recent years. The harvest takes place every summer, and this year's crop was likely far off last year's total of about 87 million pounds, industry experts said.

One of the biggest problems was the drought, which afflicted much of northern New England throughout the summer. The rural Maine counties that contain most of the country's wild blueberry fields are even now facing moderate drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

The pandemic also made it more difficult to hire seasonal workers and created a need for additional safety measures that complicated the harvest. Add a surprise frost in early June, and it added up to “most definitely a challenging season,” said Lily Calderwood. a wild blueberry specialist at University of Maine Cooperative Extension.

“It was uniquely challenging, but we have had late frosts in the past and we have had drought in the past," she said. "The growers are a very resilient group of farmers who grow a very diverse crop.”

Wild blueberries differ from the ubiquitous cultivated blueberries in that they are smaller and occur naturally in fields called blueberry barrens. Maine's blueberry industry has touted the wild blueberries as a potential piece of the “superfood” movement in recent years. Most of the crop is frozen, though some are sold in Maine farm stands and supermarkets every August.

The...

Full Article