Strawberry growers in central Maine say their pick-your-own crops look promising, with many just opening their fields for the season.

In Litchfield, Seaman’s Berry Farm started its you-pick strawberry season Saturday. Owner Eric Seaman said his crop looks better than last year and that recent rainfall has been very helpful.

The strawberry season, which opened this past weekend or Monday for many producers, usually goes through at least the beginning of July.

“What we really need now is for people to know they’re ready and for them to come and pick,” Seaman said. “We can have the best berries and weather in the world, but if people don’t come out to pick, it doesn’t do us any good.”

David Popp of Popp Farm in Dresden said this past winter was better for strawberry plants because the snow provided good cover. When there isn’t snow cover, the cold can reduce the number of buds on the plants, he said.

The farm, which opened for strawberry season Monday, will have raspberries and blueberries for picking after strawberries, Popp said. The seven to eight acres of strawberry fields are mostly for self-pick customers, but the farm also sells strawberries at farmers markets in Gardiner, Bath and Mill Park in Augusta.

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Stevenson’s Strawberries in Wayne also opened Monday.

Owner Ford Stevenson, who’s in the process of handing the business off to his son Tom Stevenson, said a cool spring without too many frosts has made for a promising crop.

“The crop looks good,” Stevenson said. “Of course, it doesn’t go from zero to 60 in one day, but there will be plenty of berries.”

The farm’s primary business for its 20 acres of strawberries is pick-your-own, but it also sells its berries at its farm stand on Route 202 in Winthrop, to other roadside vendors and to some wholesalers.

In the last couple of decades, the acres of strawberries harvested in the state have declined. There were around 500 acres harvested in Maine in 1997, but that had dropped to just under 300 by 2012, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service census.

 


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