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Cranberry growers expect an average crop

Cranberry growers are expecting a better crop this year. 

Tom Lochner is with the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association. He says, “So far, it looks like it’s going to be an average-size crop for the state, about 520 million pounds of fruit, which is up from last year’s crop, and actually, the last three years so we’ve seen a pretty good recovery in the crop over the last twelve months.”

Lochner tells Brownfield the weather has been rough on the cranberry bogs for a couple of years. “We had an unusual growing season in 2021 with the real early spring and then a cold snap that came after some extremely hot temperatures, which had an impact on the vines. We also think there were some things that happened in the fall of 2020 that impacted the 2021 crop, too.”

Lochner says growers were limiting supplies for a few years with a lot of fruit in the freezers, but stocks are down and demand is good… and he expects exports to the United Kingdom and European Union to increase.

Lochner says the Cranberry Marketing Board recently met in New Jersey, and along with seeking new markets, they are going to fund some research. “There were three proposals that were considered for funding. I think they decided on one that would take a look at continuing to build on the science that’s out there that suggests that cranberries have health benefits for consumers.”

Wisconsin is the largest cranberry-producing state growing and harvesting more than 63 percent of the nation’s supply and more than 50 percent of the world’s supply.

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