Blueberry growers predict fair-to-poor crop

JONESBORO – From Knox County to Washington County, Maine’s growers of wild blueberries are hoping for rain and respite from the current heat.

Two weeks from now, they hope to be on the fields harvesting their crops. But many of them said the harvest may well be one week later than usual this year, given the rainy spring and subsequent poor pollination by the bees.

Close to 100 growers packed the open-air metal building on the Blueberry Hill Farm site, the University of Maine’s experimental station along U.S. Route 1.

They came for their annual field day, at which hearing about the latest research seems almost secondary to renewing acquaintances and enjoying a cookout and picnic.

They opened the morning by sharing observations on their crops. No matter how July finishes out weatherwise, anything has got to be better than last year’s harvest.

The 2004 crop produced just 46 million pounds. The New England Agricultural Statistics Service noted in January that 2004 was the worst harvest since 1991, producing only about 50 percent of what an average year brings.

The five-year average for Maine’s blueberry harvest is 78.9 million pounds.

So far this summer, no grower is glowing about what he has for crops.

“I’m seeing some good fields east of Ellsworth,” processor Roy Allen of Allen’s Blueberry Freezer said of his company’s land. “But it’s a decent crop, not a bumper crop. Things are starting to catch up with the heat.”

David Yarborough, a blueberry specialist with UM’s extension service, asked his audience for comments on the crops from midcoast through Washington County.

Paul Sweetland of Union said he anticipates a “poor crop,” with the harvest coming in early August – about one week later than normal.

Vernon Hunter of West Rockport called his crop “the poorest I’ve seen in 15 years.”

In Orland, G.M. Allen predicted “a worse crop than last year.” He said raking would not begin, for his fields, before Aug. 1.

Up on the barrens of Washington County, where Cherryfield Foods has sizable acreage, the company’s general manager said Cherryfield is looking at a “fair” crop.

“If we get rain, we might do better,” Ragnar Kamp said.

Closer to the coast, Sanford Kelley of Jonesport said he was “not very optimistic.

“We have very small berries,” Kelley said. “I have never seen a crop as bad as this one.”

The other highlight of the morning was the group’s acknowledgment of the 52 years that Delmont Emerson of Addison put into the UM farm. He retired in April as the farm manager.

He received many public thank-yous, presents and plaques.

“It’s been a great job for a poor kid from Columbia Falls,” Emerson said. “I spent 52 years on one job and I really, really enjoyed it.”

He gave credit to his work crews and researchers through the years for helping him.

But colleagues weren’t his entire inspiration for his good work all those years.

“The best thing that came out of this,” he told the growers, hesitating, ” … was that I met my wife, Marie Emerson.”

To that, Dell Emerson received applause and a standing ovation.