Cranberries At 200: Market Changes, Drought Create A Crisis

By BOB SALSBERG, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle
Mon, 09/26/2016 - 10:11pm

In the birthplace of the industry, many Massachusetts growers whose families have tended bogs for generations are in "dire straits," facing challenges that include rising production costs, decreasing crop values, changing consumer habits and increasing competition from other states and Canada, a recent task force report found. Barrels of the fruits, rich in vitamin C, traveled aboard whaling ships to help ward off scurvy. Two large, three-wheeled water harvesters appeared to glide along the flooded bog as they separated cranberries from the vines. The plump berries are 2 to 2½ times larger than their native ancestors, Beaton said, and are better suited for dried cranberry products — think Ocean Spray's Craisins — that are gaining market share while sales of juice and sauce have leveled off. Brian Wick, executive director of the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association, calls it a "catch-22" — farmers need to renovate their aging bogs to stay competitive, but lack the money to do so. Tax credits and loan guarantees to encourage bog renovation are among recommendations from the task force, but recognizing that many growers will simply be forced to shut down in coming years, the group also outlined an exit strategy that would compensate farms for converting bogs into protected wetlands.

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