Nature
observation trip on the Appalachian Trail in VermontThe Editor and his son made a backpacking and Nature observation trip on the Appalachian Trail in Vermont. Click here for the report. Narratives and pictures are included.
Vol. 5, no. 34, Tuesday, August 22, 2000
Nature
observation trip on the Appalachian Trail in Vermont
The Editor and his son made a backpacking and Nature observation trip on
the Appalachian Trail in Vermont. Click here for the
report. Narratives and pictures are included.
Quick jumps: | This week's reports | Maine wild blueberry report | From the Press | Prior weekly Nature reports | Prior black fly reports | Home page |
You are invited to report on any aspect
of Nature in Maine
Please e-mail Frank Wihbey, Editor:
menature@maine.maine.edu
Report format = Day, date, [time]. Location (Maine Atlas Map number) Report text. Initials of correspondent.
Monday, August 21. Brunswick (Map 6) Adult female American Pelecinids (Pelecinus polyturator) appeared last week. These formidable-looking insects are actually harmless. They are part of the order Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants, etc.). Only the females have the extremely long abdomen. This, the only U.S. species, appears in August each year. Yet another sign of the advancing summer! A.R.S.
Maine
Wild Blueberry Report for August 16-22, 2000
Late fruiting stage:
Middle ripe fruiting stage: Hancock, Penobscot
Counties
Early ripe fruiting stage:
No reports: other Maine counties
See blueberry story below in "From the Press"
Your participation is welcome! Please e-mail Frank Wihbey, Editor: menature@maine.edu
Blueberry harvest bountiful; 85 million-pound crop
predicted for Maine
Mary Anne Clancy
Bangor Daily News, August 19/20, 2000, pages A1, A6
[Note: though improved through pruning and other agricultural practices, Maine's crop is virtually all wild blueberry species, propagated naturally]
Maine’s 2000 wild blueberry harvest is looking like a record-breaker. Fruit is coming off the Washington County barrens so fast that rakers are taking mandatory time off to stem the flow of berries to already-jammed processing lines. The initial estimate of 74 million pounds just three weeks ago is long gone. “I think it will be 85 million pounds, said Ed Flanagan, president of Jasper Wyman & Son in Milbridge.
Maine’s harvest started later than usual because of a cool spring and Flanagan said he expects it will continue through mid-September. That is almost two weeks later than other years and the timing could be a problem, he said. Although SAD 37 in the Harrington-Cherryfield area agreed to start school one week later than planned, the company will work the last week without the high school students who are so critical in the processing factories, he said. Flanagan’s estimate puts the crop just over the 1992 record-breaker of 84.5 million pounds, but it has hovered at an average of 65 million pounds for the last five years. Much has changed. The largest difference is irrigation, which can double yield per acre.
Blueberries take two years to grow and much of the barren’s crop being harvested this year was irrigated in both the growing and cropping years. And unlike last year, when exceedingly dry conditions produced a 65.9 million-pound crop, this year’s weather has been perfect for growers and the estimated 2,000 rakers.
The difference in the lushness of the crop on the Washington County barrens -- which accounts for more than half of the state’s harvest — is startling. Wyman’s is harvesting approximately half of its 7,000 acres of barrens and Flanagan said there are more berries coming in than the company’s two Maine plants and one facility in Prince Edward Island can handle. “We’ve put product into six plants, including two in Canada, but we’re rotating off-days for the raking crews,” he said. “We have to slow down to manage the flow.”
Cherryfield Foods has 10,000 acres of barrens and manages another 10,000 acres for private growers. Approximately 7,000 acres of Cherryfield’s barrens is under irrigation. “This crop is so good that we’re going day by day,” said farm operations manager Sid Reynolds. “We’ve had to curtail the harvest on our own land to give preference to our growers.” And on the barrens, the priority is areas that are more likely to be hit by frost, he said.
Cherryfield Foods is an American subsidiary of Oxford Foods of Nova Scotia. Reynolds said. Until last week, the company was shipping some fruit to its Canadian factories for processing. But Canada’s wild blueberry harvest began last week and Cherryfield Foods is processing 90 percent of the Maine crop in Maine, he said. The company is staggering its workweek for rakers, Reynolds said.
Del Merrill of Merrill’s Blueberry Farms in Ellsworth said his factory was processing for some Washington County growers until this week when the Hancock County crop began coming in strong. “And we’ve got some suppliers that are just beginning to rake,” Merrill said. The Hancock County crop, some of which is on land that isn’t economical to irrigate, is spottier than the crop from the barrens, Merrill said. “We have lots where we’ve de-rocked and it usually takes three crops -- six years —until they recover, depending on the amount of damage,” he said.
Growers throughout eastern Maine have been taking rocks out of their fields to make them suitable for mechanical raking. Getting rakers, particularly for small lots, has become increasingly difficult in recent years but there’s been no problem this year, Merrill said. “You don’t have a problem getting rakers when the crop is this good,” he said. The cool weather and rain that have helped many growers are causing some problems because berries are splitting, he said. The crop is so large this year that few growers can wait the usual day or so for the berries to dry after a rain before raking.
Merrill said he believes the Maine crop will be 82 million to 85 million pounds, but the combined Maine-Canadian crop will be at least 16 million pounds less than last year because of frost in Quebec Last year’s combined Maine-Canadian wild blueberry crop was 166 million pounds. Merrill expects this year’s combined crop to be 145 million to 150 million pounds.
That should help assure movement of the crop at strong prices, according to John Sauve, executive director of the Wild Blueberry Association of North America. WBANA is an international trade association of Maine and Canadian growers that promotes wild blueberries worldwide. Sauve said North American demand for wild blueberries continues to strengthen -- particularly as their health benefits become better known. And Martha Stewart’s recent featuring of wild blueberries in her magazine and television show is resulting in a lot of inquires, he said.
But, the European bilberry crop is larger than it was last year and the value of the American dollar is working against sales in Europe, he said. Wild blueberries are a replacement crop for European bilberries. Sauve said he expects the Japanese market to remain flat because growers of cultivated blueberries and cranberries are making a big push in Japan. “I think you could say we’re cautiously optimistic,” Sauve said. “We’ve got some new challenges and some new competition, but, you know, it is never easy.”