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Carl (carma48) posted an update Friday, Aug 20, 2021, 6:23am EDT, 2 years, 8 months ago
JimL: Potatoes are still a huge crop up in Aroostook, but not like they once were. When I was a kid they were ranked #1 in the USA in Potato production. Now, they're ranked #14! Only about half the acreage of potatoes up there now that there was 50-60 years ago. They also once grew a lot of Peas up there & Birdseye had a huge processing plant in Presque Isle. That's totally gone now. They do grow a fair amount of Broccoli & Cauliflower up there now. But, “the county” has changed so much in the last 25-30 years. It used to be wide open, rolling hills farms as far as you could see. About half the farmland has now gone back to forest & the whole landscape & atmosphere of the place is changing. I hadn't been “home” in almost 20 years & DW had never been up there at all, so in 2018 we went up for a few days. I absolutely could not believe the changes. Both my cousin Ray's farm & my Uncle Tom's farms are totally gone (no buildings left) and completely overgrown in forest. Much of what I knew up there is un-recognizeable now. Changed so much that I drove right past the intersection of the road that went out to my family's farms & had to turn around to find it! It used to be wide open & visible from half a mile away. Now almost totally hidden by forest growth. So much change that it became a bitter-sweet trip for me.