The seminar was co-sponsored by the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Association (CCCGA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cranberry Marketing Committee (CMC). There are about 500 cranberry growers in Massachusetts and most belong to the CCCGA.

For the second season in a row the price that growers are receiving for their berries is falling significantly below the cost of production. The price paid by companies for a 100-pound barrel fell from $65 in 1996 to $17.50 in 1999 and to $8–$10 in 2000. The average cost to produce a barrel of cranberries is $35, growers report.

Growers who sell their berries to Ocean Spray Corporation (OSC), which controls 70 percent of the industry, do not know yet what price they will receive for their 2000 crop. That price is not determined until OSC has sold the berries.

One grower explained to this reporter that he could get his costs down to $25 a barrel and tighten his belt to survive. Another grower explained how growers are selling their equipment at extremely low prices and getting off-farm jobs to make ends meet. According to a recent column in the Boston Globe, "More than one-quarter of its [Massachusetts] 450 growers are thought to be on the verge of giving up."

Since the mid-1990s the growers' production of the berry significantly exceeded what processors would buy. In 1999 6.3 million barrels were produced while sales stood at 5.2 million barrels. Industry estimates put the current surplus at 4.2 million barrels.

The U.S. government announced it will buy $30 million of cranberries or about 1 million barrels in 2001. This has not been welcomed by all growers since only the two largest handlers of cranberries, OSC and Northland Industries, are capable of filling the government purchase. Growers who operate independently of the two will not benefit from the sale.

The berries purchased by the government will be used for school lunches, homeless shelters, and home lunch programs. Jeff LaFleur, executive director of CCCGA, told growers that America's Second Harvest, which distributes the government's purchases, has told federal officials they "can use everything you can get to us."

The meeting was organized for the handlers, the corporations that buy the berries from the growers, to put forward their view of the crisis facing the industry. Spokespeople from the six largest handlers, who control 99 percent of purchases from growers in North America, spoke on the panel.

There was some debate among the handlers on how much and how fast the surplus of cranberries should be reduced. In 2000 the CMC issued an order to reduce the cranberry inventory by 15 percent by cutting the allotment of berries a grower could sell by that amount. The focus of the discussion among the handlers was what should the marketing order be in 2001.

The 2000 federal order wound up hurting farmers who harvested early and helped those who waited. A poor crop in Wisconsin, where cranberry production has surpassed that in Massachusetts, meant some farmers here were able to sell more berries than expected. David Farrimond, director of the CMC, told the Patriot Ledger, a local newspaper, "Small growers who dumped a few hundred barrels early on are angry because they could have sold the berries."

Doanne Andresen, a grower in Duxbury, Massachusetts, is circulating a petition among growers to deliver to the CMC at its February 5 meeting. The petition explains, "The Cranberry Marketing Order to set-aside the crop will not be successful in returning profitability to the grower without setting a minimum price for our crop. I will not support any Cranberry Marketing Order for this year unless handlers also write a voluntary agreement to honor the grower's demand for a minimum price of $40 per barrel."

Ted Leonard is a meat packer in Boston.  
 
 
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