WOODLAND, Maine — As of Wednesday, Oct. 3, Moir Farms of Woodland is about 70 percent of the way through its harvest season, which has so far not been impeded by poor weather.
Ron Moir has owned the farm, a family business, since 1971. Now he, two sons and two grandsons are involved with farming operations and own roughly two thousand acres of land in Woodland and on the New Sweden and Lombard roads in Caribou.
Moir said the crop, while better last year, is fairly average in terms of quantity this year.
Employees with Moir Farms of Woodland rack potatoes by picking out low quality or rotten spuds as they are transported into a large quonset hut via conveyor belt at the farm’s headquarters on the Brown Road. (Chris Bouchard)
“The crop is doing pretty good considering the dry weather we had,” he said, “It’s about an average crop. The weather conditions make a big difference.”
While his crew fluctuates occasionally, he said it typically consists of about 22 total members. That number includes seven student workers who are out on harvest break.
Moir said he hopes the schools in his area continue to release students for harvest break, as it would be otherwise difficult to get the help he needs to bring the crop in.
“They dropped it down to two weeks,” he said, “and it’s been good since then, but we’ve also had ideal weather conditions. In years past, it wouldn’t be unusual for us to lose an entire week, and we haven’t had that happen this year or this past year.”
In addition to students, Moir said that a couple of his employees are people who work regular jobs and take a week off just to help out with the annual potato harvest, adding that some are retired or close to retirement.
“We have an awful good crew out there,” he said. “Every one of them is a really good worker.”
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- Employees with Moir Farms of Woodland rack potatoes by picking out low quality or rotten spuds as they are transported into a large quonset hut via conveyor belt at the farm’s headquarters on the Brown Road. (Chris Bouchard)
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- Employees with Moir Farms of Woodland rack potatoes by picking out low quality or rotten crops as they are transported into a large quonset hut via conveyor belt at the farm’s headquarters on the Brown Road. (Chris Bouchard)
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- Employees with Moir Farms of Woodland rack potatoes by picking out low quality or rotten spuds as they are transported into a large quonset hut via conveyor belt at the farm’s headquarters on the Brown Road. (Chris Bouchard)
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- Once potatoes are harvested and racked to remove low quality or rotten spuds, they are moved inside a large quonset hut on the Brown Road in Woodland, where Moir Farms headquarters are located. (Chris Bouchard)
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- Moir Farms, based in Woodland, has a crew harvesting potatoes on the Lombard Road in Caribou, as seen here, while another crew simultaneously racks potatoes at the farm’s headquarters on the Brown Road in Woodland. (Chris Bouchard)
