Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – Recently released figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show that Maine potato farmers planted about 57,500 acres for the fall harvest.
“Last year, Maine growers planted 58,500,” said Donald Flannery, executive director of the Maine Potato Board, “so we’re down 1,000 acres. I would agree with that … I wouldn’t dispute that number too much. “Those 1,000 acres are scattered from Fort Kent to Houlton. Outside of Aroostook County, I don’t think we saw a tremendous change in acres,” he said. “I think that 1,000-acre decrease was in Aroostook County, but it wasn’t in any one area.”
Potato growers nationwide planted just over 1 million acres this year, up 2 percent from the year before.
Flannery said Maine’s potato crop is holding steady.
“Relatively speaking, our acreage is holding pretty much status quo,” he said. “Any given year you can be up 1,000 or down 1,000 … that type of variance isn’t a lot and it doesn’t surprise us. If it was 5,000 acres, that would obviously be more concerning than 1,000 acres.
“We’d like to see more acres in Maine,” said Flannery, “because we have an infrastructure to support. More acres make it easier to support that infrastructure. That being said, we don’t encourage people to plant a lot of uncommitted potatoes, or ‘open potatoes.’ We encourage growers to keep the planted acres to what they’ve got sold. We don’t have a lot of open potatoes in this state.”
Flannery said Maine’s potato acreage peaked in 1946 at 219,000 acres; however, the acreage has since been on the decline. In 1980, Maine growers planted about 108,000 acres, and by 1990, the number had dropped to 81,000 acres.
“Those figures represent big periods of time,” he said. “If you look at more recent history, the acreage has been quite a bit more stable. I think we need to plant a little bit more to be able to sustain our infrastructure, but that’s going to have to be market driven.
“The potato industry – anywhere in this country – is not in a position to say, ‘Let’s plant 10,000 more acres this year,’ and not have a home for them,” said Flannery. “But I do think, as an industry, we’re in a position that when and if that opportunity arises, we can meet that demand, but it’s going to be market driven … there’s no way around it.”
Flannery said growers suffer when they plant too much.
“It’s always best to know your market, and plant for that market,” he said. “Where we really hurt ourselves in the potato business in North America is when we over-plant.”
Present indications show this year’s harvest should yield a quality crop.
“We haven’t had any issues disease-wise, and when it got dry on us, we got some timely rain,” said Flannery. “The Aug. 3-4 wind and rain storms we got did cause some problems. The wind did some damage and there were pockets of hail in the St. John Valley that did some damage to potatoes in that area but it was very isolated.
“Overall, we dodged the bullet and it wasn’t as bad as we thought it was going to be,” he said. “All in all, though it’s early yet, I expect a good, quality crop.”
Flannery, along with Timothy Hobbs, director of development/grower relations for the Maine Potato Board, are gearing up for the 47th annual “Potato Picker’s Special,” a live TV show that airs from 4:30-6 a.m. on WAGM-TV throughout the harvest season. The purpose of the show is to find harvest workers for the farmers as quickly as possible, and to keep crews posted as to when to report for work.
“I think some growers might start the latter part of the previous week … maybe around the 15th just to get the bugs out,” said Flannery, “but Sept. 17, from everybody we’ve talked to, seems to be the target date growers want to be in full gear.”
The “Potato Picker’s Special” begins Monday, Sept. 17.
