Oregon’s 2011 cranberry crop resulted in high yields and prices.
Oregon’s 2011 cranberry crop resulted in high yields and prices, growers say.
Grower Ted McKenzie, a member of the Oregon Cranberry Growers Cooperative, said he received 35 cents a pound or $35 for a 100-pound barrel of fresh cranberries. Wayne Everest, an independent grower, said he’s heard of producers getting 30 to 35 cents a pound. Mike Stamatakos, vice president of agricultural supply and development for the Ocean Spray cooperative, said the 75 members of Ocean Spray “will likely earn a return per barrel of approximately $65 — a record-setting return in company history.”
In 2010, the volume of the cranberry crop was down and the price was about half of what growers earned this year, grower Scott McKenzie said. He explained that a hard freeze in December 2009 damaged buds and a cold, wet pollination period during the following May and June resulted in a decreased 2010 crop.
With a shortage of berries carried over into 2011, the year’s Oregon crop was in high demand. McKenzie said the Neil Jones Food Co. of Vancouver, Wash., made an early offer of 24.5 cents a pound to independents and then Smuckers followed with a 30 cents offer. “There has been more competition for the berries this year than there has been in the last several years,” he said.
Read more at Capital Press.
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