There are too many, though; about 68 million pounds too many of the pungent red berries, to be precise. Because of this oversupply, Local 12 News reports that the association spokesman for the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers, Tom Lochner, asked the
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to purchase about 30 million pounds of the ruby red berries.
The USDA said that it would do that and doubled this buy with one that happened previously in January. According to Food World News, this agreement will see the
Agriculture Department giving $55 million to the Congressional Cranberry Caucus in return for various cranberry products. The deal nets the Department 68 million pounds of surplus cranberries altogether.
What this means for cranberry growers is more stable prices, and the oversupply will also allow them to get between 10 cents and 19 cents per pound for their product. The Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association says that they would need to get 25 cents to 30 cents per pound to allow them to break even.
At the end of it all,
the growers took the agreement as good news, and they were extremely pleased with the decision by the USDA to purchase the berries.
Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin spoke to the press on Monday about why the agreement took place. She indicated that, "Wisconsin is the main producer of cranberries and the decision of the USDA is to help growers at a tough time."
Senator Baldwin stated that the cranberries will most likely be used for school lunch programs, food banks, and other similar uses.
