Farm Family
of the Year 2003 

(Presque Isle) – The Maine Potato Board has announced that Murray and Roberta Blackstone of Caribou have been named the 2003 Farm Family and Farmer of the Year.

Murray Blackstone was born and raised on a farm, owned and operated by his parents Orman and Lauretta Blackstone. In 1975 he married Roberta Thornton, the daughter of Philip and Bess Thornton. Murray started farming with his father's help, and eventually went on to work his own farm. Together Murray and Roberta raised three children: Dan, now 26, married Sheri Dyer after graduation. They have a daughter Sheridan and expect their first son in August. Jenny, 23, and Bill, 21 have graduated college with business degrees. Murray and Roberta have been farming in Caribou for some twenty-six years. Murray and his two sons farm 720 acres: 360 acres of Russet-type potatoes for processing, tablestock, and seed, which are rotated with oats and canola.

Murray Blackstone has been a member of the Agricultural Bargaining Council (ABC) for 20 years, has been on the Board of Directors for six years, and is currently serving as President. He was recently elected to serve on the Maine Potato Board Processing Growers Executive Council. Blackstone has also worked with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension IPM program for potatoes, canola, and soybeans.

Blackstone recently attended The Potato Industry Leadership Institute, an opportunity for growers to obtain high-level exposure to all aspects of the potato industry and to receive skills training along the way. The Blackstone Family is proud to work in a family business of planting, nurturing, and harvesting a quality crop of potatoes.

Donald Flannery, Executive Director of the Maine Potato Board, expressed the Board’s congratulations to the Farm Family of the Year. “The Blackstone family has been a credit to the potato industry for years,” Flannery said. “They have remained active in many facets of the industry, constantly working to ensure the future success of the Maine potato industry.” The Blackstone family will be honored at the Industry Dinner during the annual Potato Blossom Festival.

If you would like more information on this year's potato harvest, please contact Tim Hobbs at (207) 769-5061, or via e-mail at hobbs@mainepotatoes.com.