BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 27, 2022
Even though Maine had a bumper crop of potatoes in 2021, it was still only a quarter of the yield Aroostook farmers experienced at their peak in the 1940s and 1950s. Potatoes have literally lost ground — acreage in Maine has declined from 186,000 acres in 1947 to 58,000 in 2021. Moneywise, that means the 1947 crop, worth $94.4 million then, would be worth $1.2 billion today. Maine’s potato crop for 2021 is valued at $209.7 million. Once No. 1, Maine now ranks toward the bottom of a top-10 roster. Experts say the production shift west is due largely to advances in irrigation, more shipping connections and larger land area. But they want growers focusing on technological advances to get the most out of the land they farm. “We’re farming smarter. I would stack our growers up against growers in any other parts of the world. They’re that good,” said Steve Johnson, potato educator at the UMaine Cooperative Extension.