By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Some potato farmers in Aroostook County are expected to begin harvesting their crops this week.
“As of Sept. 8, no harvest has gone on for storage,” said Don Flannery, executive director of the Maine Potato Board. “Everything that’s been harvested so far has gone directly out of the fields to processing plants or to be packed.
“I think some people will start harvesting this week — weather permitting — to go into storage, and by Sept. 19, most everybody will be going.”
Recognizing that The County has been deluged with rain, Flannery said conditions could affect this year’s crop.
“We’ve had rain since the third week of July, but until you get out there and actually see something in volume, it’s hard to tell for sure how the crop will be,” he said. “However, knowing what we’ve had for weather — rain pretty much the last of July, the whole month of August, and even into the first part of September — it’s fair to say that this crop has been stressed for the better part of six weeks and that’s going to lead to some issues. What those issues are we’ll find out as we get into really harvesting some of the crop.
“The problem is going to come in storing the crop. If a potato has been in conditions where it’s been wet, that’s where you have potential for some storage issues, which means the potatoes may not keep as well as we’d like them to keep in storage,” said Flannery, noting that he doesn’t ever remember going into a harvest where it’s been as wet as it is now. “Potatoes coming out of the field and going directly to plants, they’re not stored, so they don’t have the same issues.”
Another concern is farm equipment getting stuck because the ground is so wet.
“It’s going to be a challenge to harvest the crop,” Flannery said, “but if we can get a stretch of good, warm weather and dry things out, growers probably won’t have to hook onto a truck because of stuck equipment. If the weather should cooperate with us and we can get dried out a little bit, it will make things somewhat easier. Harvest is so weather dependent, so we’ll have to wait and see.”
The 51st season of the Potato Picker’s Special, which is broadcast from the WAGM-TV studio in Presque Isle, begins Sept. 26 and will run until Oct. 14.
“The original purpose – and it’s still what we believe the purpose is today – is to get grower information out to growers’ crews,” said Tim Hobbs, director of development/grower relations for the Maine Potato Board, who begins his ninth year as the program’s co-host, alongside Flannery. “Instead of a grower, for example, calling 20 people to let them know, ‘It rained last night. We’re going to go at 9:30 this morning,’ they call one place. They call the studio and then we broadcast that information. That was — and is — the purpose of Potato Picker’s Special.”
During the hour-and-a-half broadcast, morning anchor Dick Palm and weatherperson Kelly O’Mara provide news and weather updates. Picker’s also asks a trivia question each day, and breakfast is brought in each morning for the hosts and guests.
Flannery said he wishes everyone a productive and injury-free season.
“We hope everybody is safe,” he said, “and that we can get through the harvest without any more adverse weather.”