BY LARRY GRARD

Staff Writer

The rain and moisture in the air are damaging the state's raspberry and green-bean crops, the state agriculture commissioner says.

Jerry and Jeanne Simpson, owners of Morrison Hill Orchard in Farmington, say they are down to about 50 quarts of raspberries this year -- a quarter of the harvest they had at this time last summer.

"We've just about written it off," Jerry Simpson said Thursday of the crop. "It's just been so wet for so long."

The incessant July rains have ruined much of the crop that is so susceptible to mold.

"It looks like we're going to take a pretty good hit on that this year," he said.

Selling them for $4 a pint, Jerry Simpson figures he will lose more than $1,000 on his berries this summer.

"I'm getting a lot of mold."

Seth Bradstreet, commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture, said continued rain could be ruinous for both raspberries and green beans.

The department did not have a cash-value estimate for either the raspberry or green-bean crop in the state.

"We're getting into a critical period here," Bradstreet said. "This rain's going to put a big hurt on these folks. We need dry weather, but it doesn't look good. We're at a point here that a lot of berries are going to be lost."

"The wind blows mold spores and inoculates everything," he added.

Bradstreet said he actually is hearing reports of mold more from growers of green beans. Commercial bean growers supply supermarkets such as Shaw's and Hannaford.

Bob Basile just noticed problems with his green beans on Thursday morning. Basile and partner Karla Bock run Hoof 'n' Paw Farm on Starks Road in New Sharon.

"They're starting to mold," Basile said Thursday morning. "We picked this morning before it started to rain. They're starting to mold and they're starting to get rust on them."

They sell their certified-organic produce on Fridays at the Sandy River Farmers Market in Farmington.

Basile said the mold forms along the base of the bean plants and moves up the plants from there. "It's just kind of starting," he said.

He also explained "rust," the brownish layer that can form along and harm bean plants if they are picked when wet.

"We had to pick them sometime," Basile said, referring to the risk of creating rust.

According to the National Weather Service in Gray, the state has received above-normal rainfall both for the year and the month of July -- when raspberries and beans reach maturity.

Meteorologist James Brown reported that Maine has had 30.35 inches of rainfall thus far, and normally gets 40 to 45 inches in a year. The July rainfall has been 4.10 inches compared to the average of 3.32 inches, Brown said. Farmers, meanwhile, can only hope the scattered thunderstorms predicted for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are widely scattered.

Larry Grard -- 474-9534, Ext. 343

lgrard@centralmaine.com