Cranberry growers could dump as much as 25% of this year’s crop

Cranberry growers in Wisconsin and other states are considering destroying 100 million pounds of berries to reduce the glut that is keeping prices down.

Because the cost of producing cranberries exceeds the price farmers get for the crop, the industry is contemplating withholding as much as 25 percent of this year’s berries from the U.S. market.

The director of the state cranberry growers association, Tom Lochner, said it would have been an easier decision to grow a smaller crop at the start of the year.

“If we had known back in march and april (the USDA) was going to limit the crop this year, then growers would simply have not grown as much fruit, which is not as easy as it sounds,” Lochner said. “They probably would have taken beds out of production.”

Lochner said producers, such as those in the Tomah area, are supposed to begin harvesting cranberries this week.

The USDA says it costs about $4 more to grow a barrel of cranberries than the market will pay for that barrel.

If cranberries are kept off the market, they could be turned into cattle feed.

Lochner says efforts are being made to expand the markets for cranberry drinks and dried berries.

Wisconsin is the top cranberry producing state in the U.S.

Lochner says it’s getting tougher to sell cranberry beverages, when bottled water is really popular.