US: Cranberries continue return to Maine

The rush was on in the deep-maroon cranberry bogs at Ricker Hill Orchards last week.

A dozen men pushed harvesting machines atop the spongy mat of vines, scooping up the tart red fruit before rain shut down the operation, putting off the already late harvest for yet another day.

"Usually the harvest is early October," shrugged Harry Ricker, manager of cranberry operations at the eighth-generation farm.

Ricker is one of 40 cranberry growers across the state who have resurrected an industry that had vanished from Maine until the 1990s. Cranberries grow wild across the state and were cultivated up until the 1900s. The industry died out after that due to lack of frost protection technology, a drop in demand during World War I, Maine's distance from markets, disease and pests and other factors, said Charles Armstrong, cranberry specialist at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.

Cranberries are genetically very similar to the wild blueberry and like the same acidic soil and cool temperatures. That makes Maine an ideal place to grow cranberries, said Armstrong. The industry was revived in part by former Gov. Angus King, who envisioned the cranberry as an economic boost for Washington County. King convened a cranberry summit in 1996 and endorsed a plan calling for the planting of 1,000 acres of cranberry vines in Maine by 2000.

While those efforts have fallen short -- in part because of high startup costs of cranberry farming - Maine's acreage has steadily increased from 40 acres in 1997 to nearly 299 acres today, according to the 2007 U.S. Department of Agriculture census. Maine's harvest pales next to Wisconsin, the nation's top cranberry producer with 17,700 acres followed by Massachusetts at 13,000 acres.

Armstrong said he expects the industry to continue to expand in Maine, because of the growing demand for locally grown products and a worldwide interest in the possible health benefits of cranberries.

Last week, more than 30 nutrition scientists presented the latest findings from research into the berry's anti-aging, anti-cancer and anti-bacterial qualities at the fourth Cranberry Institute Health Research Conference in Savannah, Ga.


Source: kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com

Publication date: 11/2/2009

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