Maine Wild Blueberry Production Statistics

Prepared by Lily Calderwood, Ph.D. and David E. Yarborough, Ph.D.,
Extension Wild Blueberry Specialists, and Jordan Parks, Research Assistant

Updated May 2023

This Fact Sheet Contains:

  • Historic to Present Maine Wild Blueberry Production and Value 1924-2022
  • Current Maine Wild Blueberry Production and Value
  • Maine Wild Blueberry Production Statistics by County.

Historic to Present, Maine Wild Blueberry Production and Value 1924-2022

Line chart showing historic Maine wild blueberry production and value from 1924 to 2022.
Figure 1. 1924-2022 Maine wild blueberry production and statistics. Source: 1924-1989 Maine Department of Agriculture (1924 to 1928 includes imported berries), 1990 to 2022 New England Agricultural Statistics Service, and the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine based upon aggregate tax records.

Current Maine Wild Blueberry Production and Value

Table 1. 2012-2022 Maine wild blueberry production and value statistics. Source: USDA & NASS. 2022. USDA/NASS, National Agricultural Statistics Service. QuickStats Ad-hoc Query Tool. Available at https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/ (verified May 2023).

TOTAL

 USE

PRICE
Year Harvested Weight Weight/Area Fresh Processed Fresh Processed
acres million, lbs lbs/acre % of total weight $/lb
2022 19,700 77.6 3,940 1.0% 99.0% 2.30 0.700
2021 21,000 103.8 5,000 1.0% 98.9% 2.30 0.750
2020 20,700 47.4 2,290 1.5% 98.5% 0.82 0.600
2019 20,500 77.9 3,800 1.6% 98.1% 1.19 0.461
2018 18,800 50.4 2,681 3.1% 96.7% 1.05 0.455
2017 17,000 67.8 3,988 0.5% 99.3% 2.20 0.249
2016 23,100 101.8 4,409 0.4% 99.4% 0.79 0.270
2015 22,400 101.1 4,514 0.5% 99.4% 1.90 0.460
2014 22,800 104.4 4,579 0.6% 99.4% 2.00 0.600
2013 – 87.9 – 0.6% 98.5% 1.95 0.750
2012 18,110 91.1 5,030 0.5% 99.5% 2.25 0.750

Current Maine Wild Blueberry Production and Value – Graphed

Bar chart showing Maine wild blueberry production price by use 2007-2022

Figure 2. Maine wild blueberry production price by use, fresh or processed between 2007 and 2022. Source: USDA & NASS. 2022. USDA/NASS, National Agricultural Statistics Service. QuickStats Ad-hoc Query Tool. Available at https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/ (verified May 2023).

Bar chart showing Maine wild blueberry area harvested and production of 2012 and 2014 to 2022.

Figure 3. Maine wild blueberry harvested acres and production (lbs/A) in 2012 and 2014-2022. Source: USDA & NASS. 2022. USDA/NASS, National Agricultural Statistics Service. QuickStats Ad-hoc Query Tool. Available at https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/ (verified May 2023).

Maine Wild Blueberry Production Statistics by County

State of Maine counties map
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maine-counties-map.gifState of Maine Counties for Reference

Table 2. Wild blueberry fruit bearing acres by county (every 5 years), with state totals. Source: USDA & NASS. 2019. USDA/NASS, National Agricultural Statistics Service. QuickStats Ad-hoc Query Tool. Available at https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/ (verified May 2021).

County 1997 2002 2007 2012 2017
ANDROSCOGGIN (NA)* (NA) (NA) 1 (NA)
AROOSTOOK (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA)
CUMBERLAND 246 141 (NA) (NA) 41
FRANKLIN 92 135 (NA) (NA) 23
HANCOCK 3839 3162 5812 2717 4,496
KENNEBEC 97 (NA) 122 35 23
KNOX 1647 1494 1398 776 1,345
LINCOLN 396 309 286 299 (NA)
OXFORD 242 168 115 147 (NA)
PENOBSCOT 139 119 95 111 82
PISCATAQUIS 233 133 221 96 (NA)
SAGADAHOC (NA) (NA) (NA) 12 12
SOMERSET (NA) (NA) 24 3 (NA)
WALDO 609 391 380 199 498
WASHINGTON 17861 16844 14222 13668 (NA)
YORK (NA) (NA) 7 32 (NA)
State Total 25,429 23,000 22,747 18,110 20,023

*NA are counties/years where data are withheld to protect individual operations.

Maine wild blueberry acres harvested in eastern coastal counties graphed

Figure 4. Maine wild blueberry, fruit-bearing acres (every 5 years) in eastern coastal counties, Lincoln to Washington where a majority of Maine’s wild blueberries are grown. Source: USDA & NASS. 2022. USDA/NASS, National Agricultural Statistics Service. QuickStats Ad-hoc Query Tool. Available at https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/ (verified September 2022).

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