2009 Maine potato crop valued at $151 million

PORTLAND, Maine — Agricultural officials say the value of Maine’s 2009 potato crop came in at more than $150 million last year.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service said this week that preliminary figures show the crop was worth $151.1 million. That’s up 5 percent from 2008.

For the year, Maine farmers harvested more than 1.5 billion pounds of potatoes from 55,500 acres of fields.