Maxwell’s Farm in Cape Elizabeth, pictured here in 2022, was forced to end its u-pick strawberry operations early this summer because of an invasive fruit fly. Drew Johnson/The Forecaster Fruit flies have damaged strawberry crops around Maine, causing some growers to end their pick-your-own seasons early. Late this week, Maxwell’s Farm and Jordan’s Farm, both in Cape Elizabeth, posted notices on social media accounts about the fruit fly issues.
Jordan’s Farm said Friday that it would not be picking any more strawberries from its fields, including pick-your-own. The notice went on to say that to ensure that customers won’t go without highly prized local berries, the farm will be buying berries from another local farm to sell at its farm stand for the next week. “Farming is a fickle thing and Mother Nature can be cruelly dismissive of our livelihood,” read the post from Maxwell’s on Thursday .
“This morning we learned that overnight, the fields we were planning on harvesting next, now have new ‘companions,’ in the form of very small fruit flies...
Because of this unfortunate discovery, we are now closed for the remainder of the 2024 strawberry season.” The Spotted Wing Drosophila, a pest that came to the U.S.
from Asia, can damage berries, soft fruits and some vegetables. This year, it has arrived early, shutting down some strawberry operations. File photo David Handley, a vegetable and small-fruit specialist at the University of Maine Cooperative Extens.
