History of Maine’s wild blueberry industry

Wild blueberry plants were first established as the glacier receded 10,000 years ago and were used by native Americans, but the commercial industry began in the 1800’s and continued to expand to the 1950’s, when Maine was the largest blueberry producer in the United States. Wild blueberries were first picked fresh by hand, then raked and canned and now are mostly mechanically harvested, and 99% of the crop is frozen and is used principally as an ingredient in processed foods. The crop increased over time from less than one million pounds in 1896 to the bumper crop of over 110 million pounds produced in 2000. It now averages about 100 million pounds which is produced on 44,000 acres, half of which are harvested each year. Harvest techniques from hand-picking to hand-raking, to the current practice of 24 hr/day machine harvesting, have changed over time. Pest challenges that have faced the industry include the blueberry maggot in 1919 to the introduction of the newest pest, the spotted wing drosophila in 2012. Changes in pruning from burning to mowing began when the price of oil increased in the 1970s, when fields were de-rocked, leveled and mowed to reduce cost and facilitate mechanical harvesting. Wild blueberry growers were early adopters of IPM techniques which include fruit fly trapping and border spraying to minimize applications, use of sweep net to monitor for chewing insects, monitoring weather conditions to apply fungicides, leaf sampling to determine fertilizer needs and the use of sulfur to reduce soil pH as a cultural management tool to suppress weeds. These improved weed, disease and insect management techniques, and the increased use of imported pollinators and irrigation, have increased yields and reduced the cost of production allowing wild blueberry growers to be economically competitive.