Lincoln County News speaks with Handley about strawberry season
The Lincoln County News spoke with David Handley, a vegetable and small fruit specialist and cooperating professor of horticulture with University of Maine Cooperative Extension, for a report on this year’s strawberry season. Strawberry farmers in Lincoln County are reporting a late and short season that is already coming to a close, the article states. According to Handley, repeated freezing and thawing earlier in the year resulted in more strawberry, blueberry and raspberry farms suffering winter kill than normal. He said increased rain in the fall, followed by a sudden cold, was a factor. And snowfall in early November caught many strawberry farmers off guard before they had fully mulched and insulated their plants from cold and frost, Handley said. With so many factors influencing farming, Handley and others interviewed for the report said all a farmer can do is learn and try to do better next year.