NJ cranberry crops

While other states expect smaller crops this year, New Jersey’s crop is up. But everybody is average.

Recent media reports point to a national cranberry shrinkage, but it’s actually an average year. (Photo: U.S. Agricultural Research Service)

Cranberry farmers in New Jersey had been concerned that the cool, rainy weather of May and June would discourage pollination of their crops. Apparently that’s not the case. The US Department of Agriculture predicts the harvest to be 5 percent greater than last year.

Massachusetts and Wisconsin, the two biggest producers of cranberry in the US, will have smaller crops than in 2008. Each will see roughly a 10 percent shrinkage. “It’s within an average year,” says Troy Joshua, the director of the USDA’s statistics service in New Jersey. That’s because Massachusetts and Wisconsin had record-breaking volumes in 2008. Their 2009 numbers, while below last year, are still above those of 2007.

Here’s how Joshua broke it down:

Wisconsin
2007 3,830,000 barrels
2008 4,470,000 barrels
2009 4,000,000 barrels

Massachusetts
2007 1,522,000 barrels
2008 2,374,000 barrels
2009 1,900,000 barrels

Joshua predicts New Jersey’s 2009 harvest to be 512,000 barrels.