AUGUSTA (AP) – Negotiations between blueberry growers and processors who are worried about their future following a $56 million verdict in a price-fixing case recessed Monday with no settlement.

The two sides negotiated into Monday evening through a mediator at the invitation of state Agriculture Commissioner Robert Spear, who also said the outcome could determine the fate of Maine’s second-largest crop behind potatoes.

“We’re very concerned they may not make it,” Spear told WCSH-TV. “We’re very concerned that this industry can move forward.”

Growers in November won an $18.6 million verdict in Knox County Superior Court after accusing processors of conspiring to fix prices between 1996 and 1999. Damages were automatically tripled to $56 million.

Lawyers for processors that included Allen’s Blueberry Freezer of Ellsworth, Jasper Wyman and Son of Milbridge and Cherryfield Foods Inc. appealed the jury’s verdict to the Maine supreme court.

They said the original damages, even before they were tripled, were large enough to raise the threat of bankruptcy.

The two sides agreed not to discuss details of the negotiations publicly. Negotiator David Bustin of the Maine Labor Relations Board said two general issues were discussed: a monetary settlement and how growers and processors will interact in the future.

Both issues are still open, with another meeting tentatively scheduled for Jan. 19.

“I sense an interest from both sides in getting this thing done,” Bustin said.

Before talks began, the plaintiffs’ lawyer suggested a settlement figure of $21 million, but processors were said to be cool to the idea.

A settlement is important to an industry that produces about a fifth of the nation’s blueberries and virtually all of its wild blueberries. The 2003 harvest of nearly 80 million pounds was valued at $70 million.

AP-ES-01-12-04 1929EST