Rail & Post-Indus. Economy in Maine. Return to 19th Cen.?

Cowford wrote:That is stated as a net number.

Thank you I must have missed it. I looked for that specific detail and couldn't find it until much later in the document and even then it didn't seem clear if it was referring to all previous computations.

thoughtful postings. what happened to the potato business? ken patrick

From what I understand, Maine's had some longstanding issues with quality. Not sure if that is still the case, but PEI rocketed past Maine in production about 20 years ago. Maine's production has fallen by 50% (!) since 1980. Another issue may be relative efficiency (or leack thereof): Maine's yield (measured by cwt per acre) over the last decade or so averaged 280; the national average last year was 425. Reading the Maine Potato Board's annual report forward is somewhat depressing... along the lines of, "nobody cares about us and we're slowly sinking, but dang it, we're going to just keep on doing the same thing 'cause we love farming."

The biggest, best-tasting, prettiest potatoes I've ever had were the ones my grandfather grew in his garden. I'm not sure if he used any special techniques or if it was due to the mineral-rich soil on Mount Desert Island... but those potatoes were just amazing.

Additionally, aggressive marketing by Idaho and the shift to truck fostered by the Interstate system caused both supply-point and distribution-means changes.

Cowford wrote:From what I understand, Maine's had some longstanding issues with quality.

I don't know about that at all. I eat a fair amount of potatoes in my business travel and nothing tastes quite like the ones in the 50lb. bag from Aroostook County next to the refrigerator.

I have wondered and continue to wonder if the loss of reliable rail transportation really is still a major problem. Too bad they've never been able to go back.

RE: Potato traffic.

It shifted to trucks in the '50s as distribution decentralized. Previously the BAR sent unit trains of special potato cars with compartments for oil heaters in winter and ice in summer, all very labor intensive. Then we have the change from potatoes boiled at home (I think of ME potatoes as boilers) to processed bakers (fries). Dry russets are Idaho's specialty, as are processing plants, an area in which California and Canada also excel. Is there much processing in ME? Blight, labor shortages (remember school potato vacations?), and price manipulation are just as big a problem in NB and PEI, has their potato business declined as much?
I wonder if that potato soil and climate will grow wheat? We have lots of potatoes in the States, but we import a LOT of wheat- we can use the wheat, we don't need more cornstarch. Soybeans for biodiesel will grow anywhere- with any crop it's a question of infrastructure as much as climate and soil.

On a personal level, I just don't eat them much anymore- Christmas is the only time I buy fresh potatoes. Am I part of a trend?

I found some newspaper reports lamenting PEI's uncertain future with spuds. The province is still producing much more than it did 30 years ago, but it well off of its high water mark. I imagine the strong Canadian dollar has hurt them, but perhaps they are all suffering from what josh alludes to: changing eating habits. US per capita consumption of potatoes is at its lowest level since 1970... in fact, it's off nearly 25% from its peak in the mid-90s. Maybe the County needs to grow kale.

Oh, for the data geeks... oats and barley production in the County (2011) equated to roughly 187 and 118 carload-equivalents. Does any of this still move out by rail? It did well into the 90s. Small pototoes (hee hee), but a carload is a carload.

my experience with railroad pricing -what the traffic will bear' and 'what are the equivalent trucking rates' convinced me that railroad pricing folk need to return to cost-based pricing. fixed costs are fixed.what isn't arer the 'assumed' volumes used to spread fixed costs per car. i think the current pricing practices are a 'doom loop ' approach. keep raising prices that force lower volumes until you reached one car priced at a billion. i know that's silly but we really haven't reached maximum throughput on our railroads. perhaps the potato decline was caused, in part, by rail pricing errors. there's no way truck is less costly than rail. the potato board should attempt a new pricing strategy with the railroads. there is rail equipment that can correctly move potatos. invest in processing plants. get subsdies included in the federal farm bill. remove state taxes. maine transportation costs should be significantly lower than idaho"s.new england has so few agricultural opportunities that it's criminal to fritter this one away as a slave to improper rail pricing.ken patrick

gokeefe wrote: I don't know about that at all. I eat a fair amount of potatoes in my business travel and nothing tastes quite like the ones in the 50lb. bag from Aroostook County next to the refrigerator.

At least we are able to get them on the East Coast. Seems like the only thing you can get out west is Idaho grown russets and not grown in Idaho russets. Sometimes I want those waxy golf ball sized potatoes that grow on the East Coast.... I can remember when the A&P carried Staten Island potatotes....Long Island potatoes are getting harder to find. Long Island potatoes are different from Maine potatoes and there's the special boiling potatotes that are grown in Upstate New York. Then all the varietals like Yukon Gold etc.

joshg1 wrote: I wonder if that potato soil and climate will grow wheat? We have lots of potatoes in the States, but we import a LOT of wheat- we can use the wheat, we don't need more cornstarch.

We are a net exporter of wheat.

http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/crops/wheat/trade.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Although the United States produces only 10 percent of world wheat (1993/94-2007/08 average), it is consistently the world's biggest wheat exporter."

joshg1 wrote: On a personal level, I just don't eat them much anymore- Christmas is the only time I buy fresh potatoes. Am I part of a trend?

The stuff you pull out of the freezer case or the ones that went into the box of dried came from somewhere. Or the ones you buy at restaurants.

The stuff you pull out of the freezer case or the ones that went into the box of dried came from somewhere. Or the ones you buy at restaurants.

The potato flakes are certainly from Idaho, which is why I asked about processing. Long term we are going to put more land under the plow as the southern plains and midwest dry up. The County is a great place for this, far enough from markets that rail is more attractive to shippers than to the Long Island potato growers of yore, who grew one crop of houses and cashed out.

http://www.bangormetro.com/item/84-the- ... the-potato" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.maineahead.com/private-tour-mccain-foods/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_ ... 8potsg.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

joshg1 wrote:

The stuff you pull out of the freezer case or the ones that went into the box of dried came from somewhere. Or the ones you buy at restaurants.

The potato flakes are certainly from Idaho, which is why I asked about processing. Long term we are going to put more land under the plow as the plains and west dry up. The County is a great place for this, far enough from markets that rail is more attractive to shippers than to the Long Island potato growers of yore, who grew one crop of houses and cashed out.

joshg1 wrote:RE: Potato traffic.

It shifted to trucks in the '50s as distribution decentralized. Previously the BAR sent unit trains of special potato cars with compartments for oil heaters in winter and ice in summer, all very labor intensive.

Indeed it was back then. Now not so much as obviously this practice was ended long ago in favor of climate controlled cars.

joshg1 wrote:Is there much processing in ME? Blight, labor shortages (remember school potato vacations?), and price manipulation are just as big a problem in NB and PEI, has their potato business declined as much?

There is a lot of processing capacity in Maine and in nearby New Brunswick at the McCain Foods plants. Most of Maine's potato crop actually does go to "chipping" (french fries). The school vacations during potato season continue to this very day and according to some friends of mine from the area the kids make pretty decent money out in the fields.

Probably among the most surprising stories I have ever read in the Bangor Daily News:

More than 130 show up at job fair in Dexter hoping to get back into shoe manufacturing

A group of former shoe company executives and public officials met last month to talk about the possibility of reviving a hand-sewing operation in Dexter. A location has not been selected, but the former middle and elementary schools have been discussed as possible factory sites, the Piscataquis Observer reported last week.

Gerry Marshall, a Corinna businessman who owns the former school building, said last month that he has contacted some major shoe manufacturers who are leaning toward adding American-made products to their lines.

Marshall said that manufacturers have been usings subcontractors from China, Bangladesh and other foreign countries for years, “but that’s changing. We can be one of these producers — maybe on a small scale at first, but I feel it can be done.”

Saturday’s event was held to determine how many trained shoe workers still live in the area and how many are interested in working again making shoes, Dick Hall, former vice president for manufacturing for Dexter Shoe, said. Hall is a member of a local committee formed to work on bringing shoe manufacturing back to town. Most members, like Hall, have a connection to the firm.

“The whole idea is to put people back to work in Dexter,” Hall said Saturday. “[Dexter Shoe] had plenty of work for just about anyone who wanted to work in the area. Now that Dexter’s gone, the town’s pretty much gone downhill. We’ve lost a lot of population over the last 12 years. The idea is to take advantage of the skills that were developed over the years and to try to get people back to work.”

Although it seems unlikely that rail based shipping could or would ever play a part in the revival of this industry in Dexter it is still very surprising nonetheless.

In some ways it reminds me of the other "micro" operations taking root at former mill sites in Maine, including brewing at Bates mill and textile goods manufacturing in Brunswick.