11/10/08 Cranberries for Thanksgiving

Cranberries for Thanksgiving. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. I am a bit reluctant to mention that Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away. One thing I relish, no pun intended, is a side dish of cranberry sauce with my turkey & stuffing. Jellied or whole berry, it makes no difference. This year Oregon cranberry growers are getting record high prices, which is welcome news for a south coast economy that has suffered from declines in the timber and fishing industries. For the 180 or so cranberry growers in Coos and Curry counties, the price paid for the crop is exciting- even if it is long overdue: RUSSELL: I think it was $62.50 a barrel that we received last year and we are looking at, low this year $130 a barrel, high $150 a barrel. That is a rise that is unprecedented for our industry. Carol Russell and her husband Allen are cranberry growers in Bandon. They remember 1999, when some growers were getting only eight dollars per barrel. It was a dark time for the industry. RUSSELL: We had one family with three generations working the farm, they just walked away because they just couldn't afford it. Supply and demand is responsible for much of the good price. But Oregon also produces a premium cranberry that commands a higher price than the larger production of Wisconsin and Massachusetts. Oregon's berries are bigger, juicier, and have a brighter red color- all desirable qualities for processors. Oregon is in the thick of cranberry harvest from now until Thanksgiving with a production value expected to easily top last year's 31 million dollars- a big boost to the south coast economy. Russell says Oregon has the longest growing season of all cranberry producing states, where harvest has been over now for some time: RUSSELL: The longer growing season gives us the size they don't get back there, and the color. You can get double the amount of concentrate out of an Oregon berry as you can out of a berry grown anywhere else. Russell says Oregon cranberries are being paid a premium price because of their great qualities compared to berries grown in the Midwest or back east. Those qualities include larger size, more juice per berry, and brighter red color. RUSSELL: This area, Coos County and Curry County, is perfect for the cranberries because it doesn't get excessively hot. We don't have the ice or the snow that they do elsewhere. So there is no extreme. We have the perfect soil. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.