09/19/06 Ocean Spray Expansion

Ocean Spray expansion. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Cranberry growers are getting a bit of boost on the West coast thanks to the nations largest cranberry processor. Ocean Spray's Aberdeen, Washington facility is expanding one of their most popular products according to plant manager, Rick Hole. HOLE: The expansion will include putting in a new Craisin's line which is the sweetened, dried cranberries. So we'll be making 15 million pounds of Craisin's at this facility. According to Hole, this expansion will also mean more jobs. HOLE: We'll be adding about 50 fulltime employees to our current 65 so we'll be up around 110-120 fulltime employees. And cranberry processors get a boost from the Ocean Spray upgrade. HOLE: We'll be using a little more of the crop through this facility on the west coast. Currently we use about 400 thousand barrels and in the future we'll be running about 600 thousand barrels of the west coast crop. West coast grows about 1.2 million barrels of fruit. And Hole says this is a win-win for both cranberry producers and Ocean Spray. HOLE: You know we're a grower owned cooperative so anything we're doing here is giving better, more consistent returns to our grower owners. Besides the expansion of the Craisin line, the Aberdeen facility also produces concentrated juice and sauce. Ocean Spray is also looking at new ways to market their products. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.