WISCONSIN RAPIDS – The Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association has announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) projects Wisconsin will yield 4.5 million barrels of cranberries during the 2012 fall harvest – an increase of two percent over the 2011 crop.
Based on the projections and with cooperation from Mother Nature during the next four to six weeks, Wisconsin will be the country’s top cranberry-producing state for the 18th consecutive year.
"The warm and early spring kept growers on their toes identifying and managing pests, but the overall warm weather and a dry period when pollination was taking place contributed to a nice berry set and a good crop this year. We still have about six weeks to go until harvest begins, and a lot of things can happen in that time," Executive Director of the WSCGA Tom Lochner said in a statement.
Lochner added that it has been an unusually dry growing season, but growers have been able to irrigate to compensate for the lack of rain. Water supplies are of concern, especially with harvest and winter flooding approaching.
According to Lochner, the Wisconsin crop size is also due to growers’ continued investment in their marshes, including adding new acreage and implementing more efficient growing practices such as renovating existing marshes, planting higher-yielding, varieties of cranberries and more.
According to a University of Wisconsin report, Wisconsin’s cranberry industry has an annual economic impact on the state of $300 million and supports 3,400 jobs from its 21,000 acres of cranberries grown in 20 counties in central and northern Wisconsin.
Last year, 33 percent of the total U.S. cranberry production volume was exported, with growing interest in cranberries especially in the Baltic States, Turkey and Russia.
Wisconsin’s annual cranberry harvest will begin in late September or early October.
Cranberries have been harvested in Wisconsin since the 1830s, even before Wisconsin was a state.