Maine’s apple orchards are yielding their biggest harvest of the past three years.
The Department of Agriculture is predicting an almost two-fold increase over Maine apple farmers’ 2006 yield, according to the Ellsworth American. Last year, Maine’s total apple production was 23.5 million pounds compared to an estimated 40 million pounds this year, the paper said. “This is the best crop I’ve seen in a long time,” Brett Johnston, owner of Johnston’s Apples in Ellsworth, told the paper.
The good harvest is due to the right combination of sun, rain and temperature during the preceding spring and summer months.