PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (AP) Maine’s potato harvesters are having a good year growing one of the state’s most important agriculture crops.

The state is usually around the ninth-biggest potato producing state in the country with a crop of close to 2 billion pounds. The Maine Potato Board said this year’s harvest season is ending and farmers saw a larger than average crop.

The productive year is good news for the state’s industry, which suffered a below-average potato yield in 2020. Don Flannery, executive director of the Maine Potato Board, said the 2021 harvest has about 8,000 new acres of production, which it needs to meet demand.

Maine potatoes are sold in stores and farmers markets as well as used in frozen and processed products.