11/08/07 Cranberry Crop

Cranberry Crop. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. It's that time of year. Holiday time is right around the corner and with it all the wonderful foods we have come to expect including one of my favorites, cranberries. The little sweet, yet tart berries are a staple along with turkey and stuffing. A lot of cranberries are grown here in the Pacific Northwest, mostly in Oregon and according to Paul Bauge with Ocean Spray, it looks like a pretty good year. BAUGE: Doing well. It's a typical year. Some growers are up from last year, some down and some about the same. I would say it's above average. State wide I think everyone is hoping that Oregon goes over the 500-thousand barrel mark again, so that would be 50-million pounds plus. Bauge works at one of Ocean Spray's receiving stations in Bandon, Oregon. BAUGE: We work with 58 growers and clean their fruit and do quality testing. From here it goes either into cold storage or to a concentrator. Bauge says the receiving station is only operational during the harvest season which is going on right now in the northwest. BAUGE: Harvest here is typically in September. Part of September and all of October and normally about half of November, half to three weeks in November. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.