Good potato crop expected
The bulk of this year's potato harvesting is not yet under way, but potato board officials said the season's crop will likely be good.
Despite severe weather that damaged this year's crop, initial harvesting shows healthy, good-sized potatoes, Maine Potato Board Executive Director Don Flannery told the Bangor Daily News. He disputed rumors that tornadoes and excessive rainfall destroyed 20%-30% of this year's harvest, instead pegging the amount lost at around 10%. Three tornadoes in June caused $1.2 million in damage in Aroostook County, with farmers in Caribou and Fort Fairfield most affected, and heavy rains that month and July also hampered crops by washing away topsoil. In July, potato farmers in northern Maine received $400,000 in federal assistance.
The majority of the state's 56,000 acres of potatoes will be harvested in the coming weeks.
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