So it is that time of year when independent growers in Wisconsin are finishing up their harvest and waiting to hear from their handlers what their projected price and payment terms will be. Usually that comes out in November when handlers make their first payment.

Due to a new player on the block, Cranberry Growers Cooperative or CranGrow,the independent world in Wisconsin is changing. Prices are coming up because handlers surprisingly “can pay a little more.”  One handler is reportedly using a one year bonus as a way to get growers to renew their contracts, with no future guarantees or incentives. 
I think independent handlers around here are a little concerned about their cheap, below cost of production raw material and worried that CranGrow might offer growers an alternative: a way to make a reasonable return for their crop and real ownership in the process.   And since there are three independent dryers in Wisconsin with a need for whole fruit, things could get interesting.

Growers need to take an active role in determining their future.  A pretty smart guy once told me that independents were being handled by their handlers.  Enough is enough.  It’s time for a change. 

We are in the thick of harvest in Wisconsin.  So far it looks like a good crop. As big as the 5.8mm bbls predicted? Hard to say at this point.  We will know more in another week, as some growers haven’t started yet.  There are reports of significant rot in the first couple of weeks, but how widespread it is…can’t tell.  Personally we had one bed that had some significant rot, but the rest seems to be holding up just fine.  These are photos from all over the Warrens area, don’t necessarily know whose marsh they are.  the swans are from next door to our marsh, they were visiting for the day.

We can say a lot about John Decas…and This article says most of it.  What is doesn’t say is that John Decas is one heck of a story teller and jokester.  Come out to WI John! We missed you at the CMC. 

Congrats to the Nemitz family for bringing Aronia berries to Wisconsin, well at least to cranberry country. And congrats too to Chris Krueger for his work as well. Read about it Here.

I don’t remember the CMC releasing the crop forecast in this manner before, but the report is accurate and Here it is.  What do you think the crop looks like in your neck of the woods?  Wisconsin looks to be every berry of the 5.8mm bbl projection…but we will know for sure when that last truck drives off the scale.

New plant

We had a large crowd in Warrens to celebrate the opening of our new plant!  Thanks to everyone who joined us.  We look forward to the future!

All kinds of things are happening…just not at United Cranberry!  With the 2015 crop, all of our members transferred their contracts to Cranberry Growers Cooperative, or CranGrow for short.  CranGrow has a little bit different structure than UCGC and was organized under a different WI statute for business reasons.  You can find out about that co op at www.crangrow.com

United Cranberry members have reason to be proud!  Our efforts began in 2010 with a goal of organizing independent growers.  We led with the BeBerryAware promotion and used our resources to fingerprint a cranberry. UCGC started handling fruit in 2012-2014 and developed a significant customer base for our dried cranberries that we sold under Wisconsin’s Best Cranberries.  With both UCGC and WBC being wound down, the future is CranGRow!  All of the success of CranGRow will have started with a hand full of growers back in 2010 thinking that something had to change!  Thank you all.

CranGRow has a new processing plant under construction in Warrens, WI. We will keep the blog going under United Cranberry unless we find something better!  Stay tuned for pictures and info on CranGRow!

“There was a meeting of independent cranberry growers in Wisconsin Rapids on June 2nd, 2016. Attorneys from Lawton & Cates provided an update on the lawsuit against Ocean Spray and reviewed options going forward. Various growers expressed an interest in joining the case and proceeding as individual plaintiffs. If you missed the meeting and are interested in an update on the case and hearing about your options going forward, you should contact Jim Olson, Scott Hassett or Dan Lenz at Lawton & Cates, (608) 282-6200.”

The lawyers for the plaintiffs have asked me to post the following:

To:​All Independent Cranberry Growers

We will be holding a meeting at the Mead Hotel in Wisconsin Rapids on Thursday, June 2, 2016 beginning at 7 pm to discuss the impact of the recent court decision denying Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification and to outline options going forward. All independent cranberry growers are invited to attend. If you have or have had a contract with Ocean Spray since 2009, please contact this office before attending. 

Lawton & Cates, S.C.

608-282-6200

You might remember the US Supreme Court case between POM and Coca Cola allowed the case to proceed in the lower courts and basically allowed POM to sue Coca Cola (Minute Maid) for false advertising under the Lanham Act.  This is the case, and the court threw it out. Read on…

http://www.law360.com/consumerprotection/articles/773610?nl_pk=f862cd1b-123e-4fbd-aaf3-3681e4a46202&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=consumerprotection

Just in case you don’t follow US Cranberry blog, this is good news!!

Source: EU Chlorothalonil

The hearing for the certification of the class was postponed a month due to some illness.  So look for those results at the end of February.

I’ve only been partially paying attention on the lawsuit, but now some big dates are on the horizon. Apparently the two sides met in mediation and that did not result in any, umm, mediation. So we go forward to the Class Certification hearing on January 21, 2016. I guess at this meeting with the judge, both sides will present their reasons to certify the class or reject certification of the class. That will be big either way and I don’t know if the judge rules immediately or some days after. Either way, I think the trial will be scheduled after that class certification hearing. Stay tuned folks. Time to get some popcorn.

Hey! We finally made some ice in Wisconsin. Will probably make a little more this weekend.
For those of you in Wisconsin, see you at cranberry school next week!

It’s that time of year..time to look back and reflect and to look forward as well.  The good news, in my mind, is that the crop certainly wasn’t huge worldwide…it was more of a good, steady crop.  With the increase of usage, the inventory growth has slowed, if even reversed a tick…we will see with the 12/31 numbers out at the end of January.  The majority of the “oversupply” continues to be in concentrate, not whole frozen or finished goods.

Our mission continues to be selling our products over every inch of this planet…and I must say in my travels I have seen cranberries in many many places.  We do a good job, and that will continue and must improve.

Independent growers are hurting due to low prices here in WI.  The projected payments for the 2015 crop are not going to be high enough (still the base of $10 for one handler remains….but others with incentives could get to $15?16? ) for growers to return to profitability.  A few spot sales at harvest kicked the price up temporarily, and for those growers that capitalized on that phenomenon, congrats.  It was by no means widespread.  But it is an indication on what happens when the crop is short.

Have you heard the news about United Cranberry Co operative?  We will close down the co op in a few months when the all the revenues from the 2014 sales are collected and distributed.  All of the United growers have joined a newly formed co op, Cranberry Growers Co operative called “CranGrow”, with some members from the old Wisconsin Cranberry Coop.

CranGrow has exciting plans for the future, and you should check them out at crangrow.com.  I think that every Wisconsin grower should have at least a few acres in CranGrow.  The co op will return all of its profits to its grower/owners….unlike many of the handlers in WI.  Sure it takes a while to get up and going, but the early birds will be glad they took the risk on a new co op.

As far as my blog, I will keep going under blogunitedcranberry.com.

Finally, I’ve heard that last week was deposition week in Wisconsin for the lawsuit.  Many growers and handlers were deposed last week at The Mead in Wisconsin Rapids.  I’m not sure what all went down, but it seems like this is moving rapidly.  No predictions here.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone, and see you in the New Year!

Well, maybe you didn’t wonder, but here is the answer anyway…

http://thefederalist.com/2015/12/02/why-only-one-u-s-candy-cane-maker-is-left/?utm_source=The+Federalist+List&utm_campaign=759b49d177-RSS_The_Federalist_Daily_Updates_w_Transom&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cfcb868ceb-759b49d177-83768749