JONESBORO – Maine’s blueberry harvest should present a strong, above-average crop come August.

That was the prediction of 135 growers who gathered Wednesday for their annual “field day” at Blueberry Hill Farm, the University of Maine’s wild blueberry research facility.

David Yarborough, the blueberry specialist for University of Maine Cooperative Extension, anticipates that Maine could produce between 80 and 90 million pounds, or more. That is well above the industry’s current five-year average of 64.5 million pounds.

The “official” estimate for industry projections for the 2006 season won’t be revealed until Friday, July 28, when the National Agricultural Statistics Service posts its formal forecast online.

Those figures will be compiled through a survey that was mailed to the state’s active 500 or 600 growers in April.

Many of them were more upbeat Wednesday about their prospects than in the previous few summer meetings.

No one expects a repeat of Maine’s phenomenal 2000 growing season – for 110 million pounds – anytime soon. But the state’s growers are currently encouraged as they measure their fields against recent blueberry production totals in 2005 (58.4 million pounds), 2004 (46 million), 2003 (80.2 million), 2002 (62.4 million) and 2001 (75.2 million).

The hailstorm that moved from mid-coast to Washington County on Tuesday night left some fields damaged, but not in too significant a manner, Yarborough said.

“Rain has been the key this year,” he summarized. “On the average, we are looking good. June provided some excessive moisture, and the small berries that we are seeing will hopefully fill out.

“The constant rain has been good for the plains and I have observed a lot of small, green berries. When we get some sun, I expect them to ripen and produce a better-than-average crop.”

In Hancock County, Delmont Merrill of Merrill Blueberry Farms said he expects “our best crop in four to five years.”

“It looks good,” Merrill said. “We are still worried about hailstones, but things are looking better than average.”

In areas from Blue Hill to Ellsworth, Roy Allen of Allen’s Blueberry Freezer called the coming crop “our best one since 2000.”

Ragnar Kamp of Cherryfield Foods oversees fields from South Paris to the barrens of Washington County. He said that the Cherryfield harvest will also be “above average.”

“When it’s good, it’s very good,” Kamp said. “But we are concerned about the hail, of course.”

The Wyman fields on the barrens are looking “really good,” according to field manager Darrin Hammond.

“It’s one of the best crops we have seen,” Hammond told the group. “I don’t know of any weak spots for Wyman’s on the barrens.”

In coastal Washington County, Jonesport grower Sanford Kelley is holding his breath as he hopes for a strong crop.

“It will be a reasonably good crop, but nothing like I could have had,” he said, describing the small berries he has seen.

Up the coast in Machias, David Kilton told others that he, too, is “guardedly optimistic.”

The morning meeting ended with a dedication of the new building at the facility, a 4,000-square-foot laboratory that was completed in 2005. It replaced the original building that had served as an office and research center for almost 60 years.

Complete with speeches and plaque presentations, the dedication drew a number of University of Maine officials plus the state’s new commissioner of agriculture, Seth Bradstreet.

Blueberry Hill Farm as a whole covers 60 acres along U.S. Route 1. Another adjacent six acres are leased, and the facility owns an additional five acres in Whitneyville.

Current projects at the farm include research on diseases of low-bush blueberries; improving yields through weed management; and developing a better understanding of the growth, propagation and nutritional needs of blueberry plants.