PRESQUE ISLE (AP) – Maine potato farmers fear they’ll lose some of their crops because of higher-than-normal rainfall this summer.
Don Flannery of the Maine Potato Board says there’ll be some areas, especially low-lying areas in the St. John Valley, that can’t be harvested.
The National Weather Service in Caribou says precipitation has accumulated over the past 10 months at a greater rate than at any time since records have been kept.
Flannery says the rain has prevented farmers from spraying their crops, and that’s allowing late blight to attack potatoes.
Late blight is most damaging in wet and humid weather, causing lesions on the leaves of potato plants. It can wipe out entire fields.
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