North American cranberry crop "significantly larger" in 2016
Cooperative Ocean Spray has estimated its grower-owners will produce eight million barrels of cranberries this year out of a projected 13 million for the global industry.
This compares to a harvest of around seven million barrels last year, with a barrel equivalent to 100 pounds or 45 kilograms.
“Our Cooperative of family farms and the cranberry industry as a whole continues to grow by consistently delivering a high quality crop,” said VP of cooperative development and global ingredients Dan Crocker.
"As a cooperative, Ocean Spray is focused on selling that crop by growing demand for our Grower-Owner’s fruit through both new product innovation and continuing to introduce the cranberry to new markets, geographies, and consumers worldwide."
The crop is expected to be "significantly larger" in the leading production region of Wisconsin with an estimate of 5.8 million barrels, as well as in New Jersey and Quebec while other growing regions remain steady.
The cooperative wrapped up the South American harvest in June with Ocean Spray receiving just under half a million barrels of fruit in Chile.
The North American cranberry harvest began in mid-September and will run through mid-November, culminating just before Thanksgiving in the United States.