Warm Dry Weather Means An Early Strawberry Crop This Year

For Tom Stevenson, June is the most terrifying time of the year. In Wayne, where he runs Stevenson Strawberry Farm, he’s waiting for all the variables to fall in place so he can declare the strawberry season open for the year. “It is such a hard decision to make,” Stevenson said. This year, see-sawing weather conditions haven’t seemed to negatively affected the berries – a pair of central Maine farmers said Monday it’s looking good – but the crop has been coming a bit earlier than usual. Chuck Underwood, who along with his wife, Terry, owns Underwood Strawberry Farm in Benton, said his crop of strawberries has come in at least 10 days early this year.