The Maine Potato Exchange based in Presque Isle reports gauging this year’s potato crop was difficult because the early acreage numbers reported last spring by the USDA appear to be inaccurate.
USDA estimated 60,000 acres of spuds compared of to 53,000 the previous year.
When the crop was harvested and put in storage, the final acre figure was again around the 53,000 acre level.
Maine farmers seem to be having a pretty good yearl in part because . potatoes are a rotation crop being grown on the same land one year out of every three. During the other two years, growers plant such crops as broccoli, barley, alfalfa and clover to help the soil.