County reaps harvest Potato board chief says yields excellent

PRESQUE ISLE – Potato industry officials said Thursday that growers in The County have reaped a bountiful crop this fall.

Don Flannery, executive director of the Maine Potato Board, said that approximately 58,000 acres of potatoes were planted in Aroostook County this growing season.

“Right now, we are about 95 percent done,” he said Thursday. “There are a few growers out there that are still out in the fields, but not too many.”

He added that crop yields are shaping up to be excellent.

“It has been an interesting fall,” he said. “We’ve had exceptional weather, and we’ve gotten the potatoes out of the ground pretty fast because of that weather. Qualitywise, we’ve got a nice crop. I think that everyone has been satisfied with their yields, and we are awaiting figures from the USDA [United States Department of Agriculture] to see what our final yields will turn out to be. We should know that next month.”

During the season, growers were not particularly bothered by potato pests or diseases. A small amount of late blight, a disease that attacks potatoes, tomatoes and other nightshade crops and is most virulent in wet and humid weather, was found in the Littleton and Houlton areas in late summer, but the condition was contained quickly and did not spread.

Pests were not particularly irksome either with only minor flea beetle and aphid activity reported.

“We had minimal issues with diseases and pests,” Dr. Steven Johnson, crops specialist and professor at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, said Thursday afternoon. “It has been a remarkably good season.”