Deep Freezes Last Winter and Spring Cost Some Fruit Farmers in Southern Maine Part of Their Harvests

Oct 26, 2023

By Carol Bousquet

Extreme temperature drops last winter and spring cost some fruit farmers in southern Maine part of their harvests.

In May a late spring freeze ruined Ellen McDougal's Honeycrisp and Evercrisp varieties due to their early bloom time.

"We were at full bloom. The 17th of May everything was in full bloom, pink and white. The next morning we went out and they were brown, all the blossoms were brown. Some varieties bloom earlier and those are the ones that were affected," McDougal said.

McDougal says the subzero temperatures Maine experienced in February caused other fruits to suffer as well.

"We lost all the peaches in February, the temperature went down to minus 15, minus 16 degrees, so we lost all of the stone fruit. It was a double whammy," she said.

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Video: Understanding the Basics of the Renewable Fuel Standard

On Friday, April 24, 2026, from 12 noon–1:00 ET, the Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law, alongside the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s (PDA) Agricultural Business Development Center (ABDC), presented this webinar in the Understanding Agricultural Law Educational Series, a course designed to develop subject matter literacy and competence on fundamental issues of agricultural law for attorneys and business advisors who work with or represent agricultural or rural clients but may not necessarily specialize in agricultural law:

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