MAINE PUBLIC • August 30, 2020
One of Maine's truly iconic crops is the wild blueberry. It's been something of a wild ride for the berries over the last decade, with some bumper crops, some not so bumper crops, tariffs, competition and, of course, always the weather. David Yarborough, a blueberry specialist and professor emeritus at the University of Maine at Orono, said early in June we had three or four freezes, then it was really hot, really dry. And principally downeast, in Washington County where most of the blueberries are grown, there was very little rainfall. Consequently, the berry size was very small and productivity was down.