Yarborough speaks with WLBZ, WVII as Maine blueberry harvest starts

David Yarborough, a professor in the School of Food and Agriculture and wild blueberry specialist at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, spoke with WLBZ (Channel 2) and WVII (Channel 7) at the start of the Maine blueberry harvest season. Yarborough told WLBZ the crop is looking good, but the supply is expected to drop from recent years. “The last three years we’ve had over 100 million pounds a year, so we’re estimating perhaps a 25 percent reduction; maybe 75 million pounds this year,” he said, citing a cold, wet spring and mummy berry disease as potential factors for the drop. Yarborough told WVII the price growers can expect to get for their blueberries is about 27 cents per pound, which is around the same as last season, but lower than farmers hope. “The money given to the grower probably is less than the cost of growing the berries,” Yarbrough said.