The Bottom Falls Out of The Cranberry Barrel

Less is more this year for New Jersey's cranberry growers. Together with the nation's other growers, the Garden State's beleaguered producers voted last week to voluntarily cut production by 32% in an effort to stem a downward slide in prices caused by a market glut.

The slide has resulted in

New Jersey cultivates some 3,600 acres of cranberries and ranks third in U.S. cranberry production.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Cranberry Marketing Committee, a group made up of growers, met in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, on March 4 and agreed to the cut in 2001 production.

At the heart of the problem is several years of nationwide cranberry overproduction that has resulted in a glut on the market. The current surplus is more than 3 million barrels, according to Cranberry Marketing Committee member Joseph Darlington, president of Joseph J. White Inc. of Pemberton, the Garden State's third-largest producer.