Spear sets meetings with berry growers Agriculture head wants to hear concerns

Growers of wild blueberries concerned about the industry in Maine have two chances next week to meet with the state agriculture commissioner.

Commissioner Robert Spear on Tuesday announced that he has scheduled two public meetings.

The first will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17, at Columbia Falls Elementary School in Washington County. The second will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 18, at the University of Maine’s Hutchinson Center on Route 3 in Belfast.

“There is unrest out there among the growers who are wondering what is going to happen,” Spear said in announcing the meetings. He said he and Gov. John Baldacci are concerned about the industry, “and I wanted to call this meeting just to be able to listen.”

“It’s a chance for the growers to come together and let me know what they think about the whole thing,” Spear said.

The meetings will fall one month after a jury awarded $18.6 million in damages against three Down East blueberry processors in a class-action lawsuit brought by Maine’s 500 growers.

The case, heard over two weeks in Knox County Superior Court, was based on the growers’ contention that the state’s three largest processors conspired to fix prices from 1996 to 1999.

The processors are Jasper Wyman & Son of Milbridge, Cherryfield Foods Inc. of Cherryfield, and Allen’s Blueberry Freezer of Ellsworth. They have all denied fixing prices.

Spear said he met last week with representatives of the processors in a fact-finding meeting.

“This industry is very, very important to the state, the economy and Down East Maine,” Spear said. “We are trying to figure out what we need to do, how as a state what we can do to help this industry along. This is quite an important time right now.

“We want to make sure they can continue,” he said. “With a suit facing them like they have now, it’s a very trying situation.”

For more information, contact the state Department of Agriculture at 287-3419.