Blueberry growers, processors talk, but no settlement emerges

AUGUSTA – Maine’s wild blueberry growers and processors spent Monday in closed talks but did not arrive at any settlement in the $56 million price-fixing case that has upset the industry since November.

David Bustin, a mediator with the Maine Labor Relations Board, had been asked by Agriculture Commissioner Robert Spear to work with the two sides. But after 7 p.m. Monday, he announced that the groups would try again next Monday.

Bustin separated the sides into rooms on different floors of the Deering Building. He took offers and counteroffers between the rooms.

“No agreements were reached. Proposals were exchanged,” he said. He said he hopes both sides would use the time before next week’s talks “to do their own math” and “think carefully about their positions.”

Asked whether the sides were close to an agreement, Bustin replied, “I would not say close.”

He said two broad issues remain: money and how the two sides will work with each other, particularly how the price of Maine blueberries is determined.

The extended negotiations involved executives from the three companies that a Knox County Superior Court jury said fixed prices in the growers’ class-action lawsuit. Those are Allen’s Blueberry Freezer of Ellsworth, Jasper Wyman & Son of Milbridge and Cherryfield Foods Inc. of Cherryfield.

The processors have appealed the verdict to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.