AP quotes Yarborough in article on Maine wild blueberry industry decline

The Associated Press spoke with David Yarborough, a wild blueberry specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and a professor in the UMaine School of Food and Agriculture, for an article about the continued decline of Maine’s wild blueberry industry. Financial stress played a role in growers harvesting 5,000 fewer acres in the United States last year, according to Yarborough, who said he expects a similar drop this year. Other factors, such as poor pollination last year, have held the crop back, Yarborough said. While he wouldn’t describe the industry as in full-blown crisis, he said some smaller growers are in crisis mode, the report states. Mainebiz also reported on the decline, citing statistics from the UMaine Extension’s July 2018 newsletter. The Portland Press Herald,  Bangor Daily News, The Times Record, Post Register and Twin Falls Times-News carried the AP report.