Cranberry Harvest Pt 2

Cranberry Harvest Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. Northwest cranberry growers have begun harvesting this year's crop and the reports, so far, are looking good and better than the down year in 2017.

Washington State University Extension professor Kim Patten says it's been a pretty good weather year for cranberries, but it has been a bit on the dry side ...

PATTEN ... "It's been a challenge for some growers that don't have enough water. So, they would like to harvest, you know, one bed after the other, but if there's no water you kind of harvest one, you wait for a week for the water to come back up and then harvest the others."

Patten says that could mean a longer harvest ...

PATTEN ... "So, it's going to be a delayed harvest and on some varieties that are prone to higher rots or mature earlier, it's going to be a challenge to get those off early enough to minimize or to have good fruit quality."

But, he says, that's not for everyone ...

PATTEN ... "I mean, and it's not every farm, every grower, it's just those that don't have water resources like a large lake or something to utilize. So, some of the smaller farms with small farm ponds, it's a challenge."

Patten says all in all, the quality is good ...

PATTEN ... "I think so, yeah. I think there's some folks are saying the color is a little slow coming on, but overall it's a good year."

Patten says the biggest challenge will again be oversupply and how it's managed, beyond the 25% set aside ordered earlier this month by the USDA.

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