MAINE PUBLIC • August 15, 2025
Maine's wild blueberries are not faring well in the heat and the dry conditions that have settled over three-quarters of the state in the last week. Eric Venturini, executive director of the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine, said while it's too soon to offer an estimate, this year's harvest will likely be smaller compared to recent years. First, too much rain in the spring and early summer made for poor pollination, he said. Lisa Hanscom, who runs Welch Farm in Roque Bluffs with her father, said she will rake whatever suitable berries are left. The crop was doing OK until this week, she said, when the heat dried up the remaining blueberries. Welch Farm had 32 acres of wild blueberries that could have been harvested, and Hanscom estimates she will lose all but two acres of the crop. "In my history — and in dad's history that he can remember, and he's 76 — we've never lost this much crop," Hanscom said.