By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – Officials with the Maine Potato Board say this year’s “ideal growing season” should lead to a bountiful crop.
“Farmers planted 55,500 acres of potatoes in the state,” said Tim Hobbs, director of development and grower relations for the board, “and 10 percent of those are outside of Aroostook County.
“The growers are optimistic,” he said. “A lot of people have been out digging samples and they like what they see. As long as we can maintain moisture on a regular basis, the crop is going to be a great one.”
Hobbs said while it’s been “a little bit drier” in the St. John Valley and in the Houlton area, “things have been ideal in central Aroostook.”
“We always have high expectations; some years we are dealing with certain issues that we don’t have to deal with on other years. This is one of those years,” he said. “There hasn’t been any late blight reported to date in the potato production areas of the state. It’s been a long time since we haven’t had late blight in those areas, so that’s to our advantage.”
This summer has seen a string of 80-degree days, high humidity and driving rains, but Hobbs said the varying weather conditions won’t negatively impact the crop.
“The heat will affect the crop,” he said. “If you’ve ever driven around when it’s one of those oppressively hot days the plants will look wilted. When you get heat and wind, the plants will fold right up. However, we don’t get enough heat for a long enough time to affect the quality or the yield.”
By mid-September growers will be in the fields harvesting their crop, Hobbs said.
“In the meantime they’ll just wait,” he said. “A lot of them will be cutting grain and continue to do maintenance work like spraying and irrigation … the same thing they’ve been doing.
“If we have ideal harvest conditions, growers could be done in three weeks, which is the amount of time area schools let out for harvest recess,” said Hobbs. “But knowing we can’t control the weather, conditions probably won’t be ideal. You can assume and hope, but you can’t control the weather; however, all in all things are looking well.”
