LEWISTON — It’s been hotter and more humid than usual in Maine so far this summer, after a cool start. It may be stating the obvious, but the combination is having a mostly positive effect on the region’s agriculture sector with larger fruit and produce and bigger yields. “From a weather perspective, this year is almost as good as we could have it,” Jason Lilley said.
“We’ve been very lucky with good sunny weeks.” Lilley is an assistant extension professor of sustainable agriculture and maple industry educator with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. The heat and humidity are having some negative impacts as well — stressing animals, trees, plants and humans working in the fields.
Kathy Shaw has been farming and raising livestock at her Valley View Farm in Auburn since the 1990s and says she has a sixth sense when it comes to nature. “Whenever you put plants of any sort under heat stress like this they send out, and this sounds kind of silly, but they send out like a help signal.” Shaw said it’s a distress signal, which can be a siren song for pests.
Among the signs Shaw looks for include leaves folded down, plants and trees droopy and looking dried out, and fruit dropping prematurely. Still, Shaw said she’s confident it’s going to be another good year. “My chickens are laying like crazy, all the animals are growing, even if they are stressed out,” she said Tuesday.
“I have developed a pretty solid niche in cut herbs, so this year t.