\u201cFlash\u201d drought conditions have hiked fire danger<\/a>\u00a0statewide and are affecting some vegetable and fruit crops. Potatoes, for instance, need healthy moisture to bulk up. But Caribou has recorded less than an inch of rain this month, according to the National Weather Service. Parts of Aroostook County are still in the \u201cno drought\u201d range, yet vegetation is turning brown and dust rises from fields.<\/p>\n Drought is here, and it\u2019s burning things up at a crucial stage, just before harvest, seed potato grower Daniel Corey of Monticello said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re drying up. Right now the crop\u2019s hurting,\u201d Corey said. \u201cBy the middle of the day, [plants] are struggling, they\u2019re drooping, and it\u2019s just bone dry underneath.\u201d<\/p>\n So far this month, Caribou has received 0.87 inches of rain, about 1.5 inches below normal, according to the weather service. Frenchville recorded 0.8 inches, 1.7 inches below normal. Houlton has gotten 0.4 inches, nearly 2 inches less than normal. <\/p>\n Farther south, Millinocket is also 2 inches below normal, having gotten only half an inch of rain, and Bangor is at half its normal monthly rainfall at 1 inch.<\/p>\n Potato plants use the most water in July and August when growth is at its highest, University of Maine Cooperative Extension scientists said in an irrigation bulletin<\/a>. Too little moisture can reduce size and yield. Irrigation can lessen the effects of drought.<\/p>\n An Aroostook log from the University of Nebraska\u2019s National Drought Mitigation Center<\/a>\u00a0reported many farms are irrigating nonstop as conditions have gone from mildly to moderately dry. Leaves are wilting and yields could be affected. <\/p>\n Daniel J. Corey Farms grows 1,000 acres of potatoes in Island Falls and in the Monticello\/Houlton area. Though northern Aroostook got about an inch of rain Sunday, southern Aroostook saw only about 3\/10ths of an inch, Corey said. It wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n The whole Northeast is dry, he said. He\u2019s talked to farmers in other states and Canada, and one from Prince Edward Island told him it was their driest season in a decade. <\/p>\n Corey\u2019s operation is irrigating with everything it has, he said. They have three or four pivots going, but that can only cover about 20 percent of the crop. And as the growing season winds down, the lack of rain is likely to affect tuber size.<\/p>\n \u201cThe calendar\u2019s telling me I\u2019ve got to kill [tops], and the [potatoes] are not quite the size I want them to be,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I can\u2019t wait for the rain. The calendar\u2019s pushing us.\u201d<\/p>\n Parched earth is also affecting vegetable gardeners<\/a>, as well as Maine\u2019s number-two food crop, blueberries. Canada feels it, too, and its blueberry crop could decrease by about a third this year, an industry spokesman said in the trade publication Fresh Plaza<\/a>. <\/p>\n On the other hand, Aroostook grain crops are faring better, because most of their growth occurred earlier, when rain was more abundant. <\/p>\n \u201cWe got rain when we needed it, and this dry weather lines up with when the grain needs to dry,\u201d Caleb Buck of Buck Farms in Mapleton said.<\/p>\n Buck Farms grows about 1,800 acres of barley, wheat and oats, along with mustard and field peas. <\/p>\n As they\u2019ve examined this year\u2019s crops, they haven\u2019t seen effects of dryness. The quality so far looks good and is comparable to that of past years, Buck said.<\/p>\n Though Maine escapes tropical heat, it faces weather unpredictability, such as excess moisture and drought, University of Maine potato breeding program director Mario Andrade<\/a>\u00a0said in 2003. The program works to create potatoes to withstand pests, disease and climate stresses.<\/p>\n Much of the work is done at the Aroostook Farm in Presque Isle, and a new research lab<\/a>\u00a0will help as technicians use drones, advanced imaging and even DNA science to observe and predict what varieties will fare best in a changing climate.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-21-at-2.32.54_PM-600x392.png\")
The most recent drought conditions in Maine were issued today by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Credit: Courtesy of U.S. Drought Monitor<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AF-DroneDemo1-071825-pjb-600x400.jpg\")
Drones are among the new technology that the Aroostook Farm in Presque Isle will use to help scientists gather detailed images of potato test plants. University of Maine doctoral student Salem Ermish (right) demonstrates the drone, while Diane Rowland, dean of the College of Earth, Life and Health Sciences, looks on. Credit: Paula Brewer \/ The County<\/p>\n