A strong crop of fresh cranberries will sustain supplies for North American retailers for Christmastime promotions, according to The Cranberry Network, LLC of Wisconsin Rapids, WI.

Cranberry Network co-managers Bob Wilson and Nigel Cooper spoke with Fresh Fruit Portal Dec. 6. They indicated abundant fresh market supplies created a very good Thanksgiving season. “We absolutely had good volume and good fruit,” Wilson reports. Now, fresh supplies will be shipped until Dec. 15, which will suit retailers wanting to offer Christmas feast shoppers.

This 2022 position received a great boost because of an alliance created in May 2021, when the owners of Habelman Bros. Company in Tomah, WI, and L&S Cranberry LP in St. Lucien, Quebec, Canada formed the Cranberry Cooperative of the Americas (CCA). These two fresh cranberry leaders united to leverage their many decades of experience and knowledge in fresh cranberry growing, handling and packaging.

CCA commissioned The Cranberry Network and Graystone Limited, LLC of East Wareham, MA, to market and manage the co-op.

This December, Bob Wilson, CCA’s vice president of sales and chief operating officer, said fresh supplies from L&S were critically important because the firm’s 2022 cranberry crop exceeded its all-time high productivity. This complemented Habelman’s slightly above average volume. The combination of Habelman’s and the Canadian fruit were critical for driving CCA to ship for Christmas.

Wilson emphasized that fresh market production is “an absolutely different culture and farming practice” than placing processing cranberries into the fresh market. Habelman Bros. and L&S have always been the two major growers to specifically grow and pack high-quality fresh cranberries. Before Thanksgiving this year, competitive suppliers tended to “give up” or at least cut back on selling fresh product, Wilson said. This leaves CCA as the sole significant supplier serving Christmas 2022 customers. “The street talk is that everyone else is done.”

In addition to packing private label, The Cranberry Network packs and ships three fresh brands: NatuRipe, Habelman’s, and Blue Water Farms.

Wilson indicates “The Habelman name has been synonymous with the highest quality fresh cranberries since 1907.” Combining Habelman family resources and experience with the L&S team provides the produce industry with a “geographically diverse supply solution for the fresh cranberry market.”

Industry veterans moving on

Wilson and Nigel Cooper revealed to Fresh Fruit Portal that they will be stepping away from this business as of Dec. 31. “We’re heading to the pasture,” Wilson joked, then added they’ll not entirely disappear. Both men have some other cranberry interests which will keep them in the industry.

Grower Habelman in partnership with Alex Ingredients, based in Montreal, has now bought into the marketing side. Graystone will remain a partner in CCA.

Effective Jan. 1, 2023, Claus von Bauer will handle sales for Cranberry Network, which has a long working relationship with Von Bauer, who is Alex Ingredients’ president,. Alex Ingredients represents fresh and frozen fruit and vegetable suppliers throughout the world.