STOCKTON SPRINGS, Maine (NEWS CENTER) --- Maine would not be the same without its wild blueberry crop and this year experts say it will be a strong one.
Blueberry farmers across the state typically put out about 80 million pounds of the fruit. Those blueberries are usually harvested from mid July until late August.
This year experts say Maine's crop could reach up to 95 million pounds. A warm spring helped many blueberry plants bud early and that in turn caused pollination to take place earlier. The lack of rain in July did hold some farmers in the state back from reaching a bumper crop. Some crops also were affected by cases of blight. Yet researchers at the University of Maine say for the most part farmers sprayed their crops and many blueberry plants were not lost.
"There may have been fields if they didn't spray," said David Yarborough, who is a blueberry specialist with the University of Maine's Cooperative Extension, "certainly we had the infection period so there could have been losses if they weren't monitoring their crop and preventing the disease yes."
Yarborough added that if blueberry crops in Maine reach 95 million, the state's yield would be the second largest crop for the state since 2000. In the past, Maine has put out as much as 111 million pounds of blueberries.
NEWS CENTER