Industry officials optimistic about fall spud harvest

PRESQUE ISLE – Most Maine potatoes are in the ground, many of them prior to June 1, making industry officials optimistic that a good crop could be harvested in the fall, if the weather cooperates in coming weeks.

Some potato vines in Aroostook County are already 5 and 6 inches out of the ground. They have sprouted well in the last week to 10 days with plenty of moisture, but warm weather is needed.

The Aroostook County table-stock and seed growers had a good year with the 2005 fall crop. Prices were higher than recent years, giving the open-market potato growers a boost.

It’s hard to say at this point if the acreage grew in Maine this spring. Don Flannery, executive director of the Maine Potato Board, said he believes the acreage is flat, much the same as it was in 2005, when Maine had the smallest potato acreage since the late 1880s.

The North American Potato Market News, an industry newsletter published in Idaho, has targeted the number of potato acreage in Maine to rise by 1,500 acres, up from 57,500 acres last fall to 59,000 acres.

“I was real surprised to see that number,” Flannery said Monday. “It’s their best guess at this point.

“I said back in March that the acreage in Maine was status quo, and I am staying with that,” he said. “It would not surprise me if we are not down a bit.”

He said it will have to be proven to him that acreage in Maine is up.

Flannery said that 99.9 percent of the crop is in, except for a few growers in the Patten-Island Falls area, where a couple of hundred acres may yet be planted.

Potato acreage, according to the newsletter, is down across the country, but mainly flat in fall harvesting areas.

That’s a positive thing for the Maine industry, according to Flannery. He would have liked to see another drop in acreage this year, but not in Maine. He says Maine acreage has dropped as far it should to maintain a sustainable industry.

“We’ve been up-front saying that Maine can’t go down any more,” he said. “It’s up to the rest of the industry in North America.”

Higher prices for noncontracted potatoes last year were brought on by acreage cuts across North America last year and the year before.

“Farmers with noncontracted potatoes were able to take advantage of higher prices last year,” Flannery said. “Those people with contracted potatoes [like processing potatoes to companies like McCain] know the price they get before the crop goes in the ground.”