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NEWS<br />
THE WESTERN PRODUCER | WWW.PRODUCER.COM | DECEMBER 13, 2012<br />
FRUIT | BRITISH COLUMBIA CRANBERRIES<br />
B.C. cranberry growers reap big berries, top yields<br />
BY ROBIN BOOKER<br />
SASKATOON NEWSROOM<br />
British Columbia’s cranberry crop<br />
is a whopper this year.<br />
Mike Wallace, executive director of<br />
the B.C. Cranberry Growers Association,<br />
said the 91 million pound harvest<br />
is the biggest production year to<br />
date, largely because of a favourable<br />
growing year and an increase in<br />
acres.<br />
Sixty million lb. of cranberries were<br />
produced last year.<br />
A wet spring caused early concerns<br />
about pollination issues, but the worries<br />
eased as an extended fall allowed<br />
berries to reach maturity.<br />
“Overall, everyone is pretty happy,”<br />
Wallace said. “Quality is fine and<br />
there are good-sized berries, largely<br />
because of the hot weather at the end<br />
of summer. <strong>The</strong>re wasn’t much rain,<br />
but cranberry growers are set up to<br />
irrigate.”<br />
Quebec, the country’s largest cranberry<br />
producer, also had a strong<br />
harvest: slightly more than 185 million<br />
lb. compared to the average 165<br />
million lb.<br />
Wallace said it is difficult to predict<br />
prices in B.C. because Ocean<br />
Spray, a co-operative that accounts<br />
for up to 95 percent of the region’s<br />
market, has a complex pricing<br />
scheme.<br />
“How they pay out depends on how<br />
long you’ve been with the company,<br />
what kind of equity you have with<br />
them, what kind of shares you hold,<br />
and which pool you’re in,” Wallace<br />
said.<br />
“So when it comes to price, I can’t<br />
really tell you.”<br />
Ocean Spray, the world’s largest<br />
cranberry processor, recently<br />
opened a $26 million receiving station<br />
in Richmond, B.C.<br />
It is capable of processing 1.4 million<br />
kilograms of cranberries per day.<br />
Five to eight percent of cranberry<br />
producers in Quebec are Ocean<br />
Spray members.<br />
North America is the world’s primary<br />
cranberry production area, and<br />
Wallace said B.C. accounts for 12 to<br />
15 percent of total production.<br />
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A record 91 million pounds of cranberries were harvested in British<br />
Columbia this year. | FILE PHOTO<br />
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