Late rain bolsters Maine potato crop

PRESQUE ISLE – The annual potato harvest is well under way in Maine, and officials at the Maine Potato Board are reporting that crop quality is very good.

Though dry weather in July and August could reduce the size of the overall crop harvested, “we’ve experienced very few disease or insect pressures this year,” said Don Flannery, assistant executive director of the potato board.

Last month, it was thought that the excessively dry weather would have a greater impact on yield than has materialized, Flannery said Monday.

Rain that fell in late August gave the crop a boost.

“Early varieties are well below average and spotty, depending on where the rain was,” said Flannery, who added that the late rain appears to have helped the russets, a variety that is harvested later in the season.

Reports from farmers also point to a better than expected yield from round white varieties.

“It’s looking like we’re closer to average than we thought we’d be,” Flannery said.

The eight-year average yield is 265 hundredweight per acre. The yield in 2000 was 280 hundredweight.

Flannery said the worst year was in 1995 when dry weather cut the yield to 220 hundredweight per acre.

Maine has about 62,000 acres of potatoes planted this year, the large majority in Aroostook County.

Referring to reports that the crop on Prince Edward Island could be down anywhere from 25 percent to 40 percent, Flannery said he doesn’t expect anything near that in Maine.

“Even if we come in at 260, that is still 40 hundredweight more than it was in 1995,” he said.