Mass. Cranberry Harvest Expected To Be Good

Massachusetts cranberry farmers are expecting a robust crop this fall.

Hilary Sandler, a cranberry specialist at the UMass Cranberry Station in Wareham, tells the Cape Cod Times that growing conditions this summer were optimal, with enough hot days interspersed with the right amount of rain.

Added fourth-generation cranberry farmer Dawn Gates-Allen, of Freetown, "Pollination was wonderful this year. We had dry days that allowed the bees to work all day. And then moving into the summer, we had adequate rainfall that just allowed the growth of the berries to continue to flourish in size."

Sandler says experts are predicting a harvest of 2.1 million barrels.

A barrel, or 100 pounds of cranberries, costs an average of $20 to $25 for growers to produce.

Sandler says Massachusetts' projected harvest amounts to an 11 percent increase over last year's.

Not all the news is good for farmers. Sandler says a robust harvest tends to depress prices.

With reporting by The Associated Press and the WBUR Newsroom