WASHINGTON - With the country awash in cranberries, the government has decided to force farmers to cut production or dump about 15 percent of their crop this fall to winnow down the surplus and reverse a downward spiral in prices for the tart fruit.
The Agriculture Department is ordering the production limit at the behest of the two biggest cranberry producers, Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. and Northland Cranberries Inc.
The impact on consumer prices will be modest, USDA officials said Thursday, and Ocean Spray, a grower cooperative that accounts for 70 percent of cranberry production, says it even plans to reduce prices despite the production limit.
''If there is an orderly marketing of product, then consumers in the long run are better off because there is a steady supply of product and a consistent supply. There was a potential for a number of producers to go out of business,'' said Enrique Figueroa, USDA's deputy undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs.
Under USDA's new limits, growers will be allowed this year to sell only 85 percent of their usual production, which means they will have to dispose of about 884,000 barrels of fruit, enough to make almost 40 million gallons of cranberry juice cocktail.
The cranberry surplus is so big that processors expect to have about 4.6 million barrels of cranberries on hand in September - about 80 percent of the nation's annual production - when growers start harvesting this year's crop.
The growers themselves caused the problem. Strong demand and high prices for cranberries in the early 1990s spurred new people to get into the business and led existing operations to expand acreage, say industry experts. Cranberries grow on perennial vines that don't start producing for two to three years after they are planted.
About a quarter of the nation's cranberry acreage has been added since 1994, primarily in Wisconsin, which has surpassed Massachusetts to become the commodity's leading producer.
Prices paid to growers have dropped from a peak of $65.90 per barrel in 1996 to $38.80 per barrel for the 1998 crop, and they are expected to drop below $30 for the 1999 crop, USDA says.
In some areas, farmers are earning less than $10 per barrel.
''We've done what mankind has done since day one. We found a void and we've filed it to overflowing,'' said John Sager, a stockbroker who also grows cranberries near Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.
Sager got into the cranberry business in 1993 when the fruit was selling for more than $50 a barrel. He harvested his first crop two years later.
Demand peaked in 1994 with per capita consumption of processed berries at 1.7 pounds. It has since declined, to 1.6 pounds in 1998.
Although the berries can be given to charity under the cutback program, most farmers are likely to use it for compost or feed it to wildlife or livestock.
Growers say they are also trying to reduce their potential yields this fall by doing such things as flooding bogs, something they ordinarily wouldn't do until the berries are ready to be harvested.
Ocean Spray spokesman Chris Phillips said the company would cut prices to help clear the surplus but he wouldn't say by how much. The company is also changing its labeling to try to stimulate consumer demand.
''Ocean Spray has to market, market, market in order to pull us out of this surplus situation,'' he said.
Growers also are trying to get taxpayers to help. The growers have asked USDA, which purchases food for schools and various nutrition programs, to buy the equivalent of 1 million barrels of cranberries in juice, sauce and other products. The department so far has bought a small amount, mostly for trail mix.
In addition, growers are considering forming a national promotional program similar to the dairy industry's ''Got Milk?'' campaign.
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On the Net: USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service: http://www.ams.usda.gov
