MACHIAS — Federal agricultural officials say Maine’s 2011 wild blueberry harvest was 83.1 million pounds, up just slightly from the previous year.

The good news for farmers in 2011, however, was that prices for those blueberries jumped significantly from 61 cents per pound in 2010 to 85 cents per pound last year.

That made the 2011 wild blueberry harvest worth $70.1 million, 42 percent more than the 2010 crop.

David Yarborough, the Maine Extension Service wild blueberry specialist, tells the Bangor Daily News  that midcoast growers had lower yields per acre than did their Down East counterparts due to wet weather during spring pollination and a lack of rainfall in late August.

Maine has 60,000 acres of blueberry barrens.


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