STOCKTON SPRINGS – There will be no juicy organic blueberries from Staples Homestead this year.

Owner Basil Staples said Friday that this year’s crop yield was so poor that he decided to shut his pick-your-own fields rather than disappoint his loyal customers. Staples attributed the poor crop to the combination of a wet spring and insufficient pollination by bees.

“It’s just so poor,” said Staples. “We’ve had good crops and built up a good following over the years, and I don’t want to disappoint them. So, I think it’s better to close.”

Staples has been in the blueberry business in one form or another since he got out of the Army 45 years ago. He raised berries commercially before switching to pick-your-own 17 years ago. His fields were certified organic in 2000. Throughout that time, Staples said, he never encountered a year this bad.

“It’s a real washout,” he said. “Farming is always related to the weather and this year the weather was bad. [Blueberries] like water, but they don’t want to be drowned.”

A quick stroll across one of Staples’ berry fields reveals something is off. Although the blueberry bushes look healthy, the berries are small and the yield is sketchy.

“Usually if you look across a field at this time of year you can notice the blue. It really stands out. But not this year,” said Staples.

Staples is not alone. Berry growers have been reporting low yields from farms across the across the state. More than 100 growers attended a meeting in Jonesboro earlier this month and many predicted that this year’s crop could match last year’s poor results. The 2004 crop produced 46 million pounds, the poorest harvest since 1991. The five-year average for Maine’s blueberry harvest was about 79 million pounds.

“Last year we did pretty well, but I’ve never seen anything like this year,” said Staples. “People ask me, ‘Don’t you feel bad shutting down?’ I just say the sun don’t shine every day. You’ve got to take the bad with the good, I guess.”