RHINELANDER, WI (WSAU-WXPR) – Cranberry harvest is underway in Wisconsin.
As growers flood their fields and get ready to corral the fruit into waiting trucks, they’re expecting to bring in a slightly larger harvest than last year, at 4.7 million barrels. That makes up about 60 percent of the nation’s cranberry supply, according to the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association.
It’s the 27th year in a row that Wisconsin has led the country in cranberry production.
John Stauner is one of 250 cranberry growers in the state, but he’s one of only a handful who grow the berries organically. “Cranberries are a Native American crop. They grow here naturally and because of that it’s beneficial for growing them organically because they’re growing in the environment in which they’ve adapted.”
Stauner and his team package about 45,000 pounds of cranberries a day. All of his berries are sold either fresh or frozen.
But statewide, fresh berries only account for 5 percent of cranberry sales. The rest are sold dried, frozen, or used for juice and sauces.
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