Quebec’s 2016 cranberry harvest reached almost 275.9 million pounds, a 32% increase compared to the 208 million pounds recorded in 2015. Quebec is now the second largest cranberry production region worldwide, behind Wisconsin, USA.
Out of the 275.9 million pounds, almost 246.6 million was harvested from the Centre-du-Quebec region, where almost 80% of Quebec’s cranberry producers are based.
In 2016. Quebec recorded 9,500 acres of cranberry production. The President of the Quebec Association of Cranberry Producers (APCQ), Louis-Michel Larocque, says that “Thanks to our knowledge of plant requirements and the good weather conditions, we have recorded an average 29,000 pounds per acre on our farms”.
Quebec is the world leader in organic cranberry production. The sector saw a strong 87% increase in 2016 with harvest reaching 40.4 million pounds compared to the 21.6 million pounds recorded the previous year.
Organic acreage will see a large increase over the next few years, the APCQ says it will represents 31% of acreage put into production in 2018.