What's New?!

CRANBERRIES

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What's New?!

I have begun to post IPM messages for the 2008 season. You can find the link on the home page, so click it anytime you want to know what might be going on, week to week, relative to cranberry pests. I have also begun to build a cranberry management calendar for Maine, which is also linked from the home page.

Learn more about the mostly heretofore 'corn' herbicide called Callisto that has received a supplemental label for cranberry usage!! Also, there's a new link on the home page (and here, too) to take you to a listing of frequent cranberry plant nutrition questions (and answers) that was developed by Teryl Roper at the University of Wisconsin.

View notes from the Atlantic Cranberry Course that was held at the end of March in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. MS Word (555 Kb) || pdf (392 Kb)

Need a pesticide credit quickly and can't find any workshops to attend? There's a PBS NATURE series DVD you can borrow, on the topic of Colony Collapse Disorder. See details on the workshops page.

EXCITING HEALTH FINDINGS!!
Several previous findings suggest that oxidative stress may play an important role in the development of Alzheimer disease, which is now the 4th-leading cause of death among adults!!
Apparent Correlation Between Antioxidants & Protection from Alzheimer Disease! Flavonoids--which are examined in one of the two new studies looking at risk of Alzheimer Disease, published in the June 26, 2002 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association--are phenolic plant pigments, with high anti-oxidative power within the human body. Ripe, RED cranberries are understandably high in flavonoid content, and are the 1st of 3 flavonoid examples cited in one of the two new JAMA studies!! The other two are green & black tea, and pulses.

Cranberries are also, as you probably know, very high in Vitamin C, which also appears to protect our brains--and other parts--from the oxidative damage done by free radicals.

Cranberry Ranks Top in Antioxidants, Versus 19 Other Fruits!

Current Status of Maine'sCranberry Industry

There are currently about 30 cranberry farms and roughly 224 acres of cranberries within the State of Maine. Roughly 88% of the acres are in Washington County. The beds range in size from less than one half acre, to five to ten acres. Due to various aspects of water and fertilizer management, a bed of one or two acres is viewed by many growers to be ideal in size. Cherryfield Foods, Inc. has more acreage (over 100) than any other operation within the state. The 2nd-largest establishment is 19 acres in size, followed by 16 acres, then 12, and so on, with most growers operating 2 acres or less.

From the very beginning of Maine’s ‘reborn’ cranberry industry (which began in 1989), local markets for fresh cranberries within the state have been strong, and so small growers have had an easy time finding niche markets here for their berries or value-added cranberry products. In addition, despite the fact that most of Maine's cranberries are used for processing, fresh Maine cranberries can now be found during October and November in many Shaw’s and Shop ‘n Save supermarkets throughout much of the state, and Wal*Mart has also entered that arena in recent years. Some of the smaller and more regional stores, such as IGA, have also been eager to buy Maine cranberries, and growers frequently report selling double the amount of bags compared to the same, or even lower-priced, Ocean Spray brand berries, suggesting that demand for Maine-grown cranberries within our state is strong. Shoppers frequently email the university through this web site, asking why they cannot find Maine cranberries all year long, in the freezer section. Finding individual growers in Maine with large enough supplies of fresh cranberries at harvest time is one limiting factor, coupled with the highly competitive nature of frozen food space in stores.

If you have comments or questions about this page,
contact Charles Armstrong at: charlesa@umext.maine.edu

Putting knowledge to work with the people of Maine

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These pages are currently being maintained by the Pest Management Office, University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Page Last Modified: 05/1/08