Cranberry Yields – The Growing Difference Between Massachusetts and Wisconsin

As cranberry growers improve methods of production, through adopting new, more efficient technologies, their yields (production per acre) improve. Cranberry yields are also affected by weather, as is generally true in agriculture, and by the prices farmers' pay for inputs and the price they receive. Changing input and output prices affect growers decisions about input use and production, thereby affecting yields. Figure C.3 shows cranberry output per acre, an aggregate measure of how Massachusetts cranberry production has changed through adoption of technology and in response to changing economic conditions.

Cranberry production is measured in barrels; each barrel weighs100 pounds. The trend in Massachusetts cranberry yields, as well as Wisconsin yields and the U.S. in general, was upward into the mid-1980s. From the mid-1980s until the early to mid 1990s, yields were fairly level, with expected variation due to factors beyond the grower's control, such as weather. There has been a great deal of variation since the mid-1980s, especially in Massachusetts, reflecting risk and uncertainty in cranberry production. Following about a decade where yields were fairly constant, on average, Wisconsin yields began to rise as the new bogs and rennovated bogs began to produce. Recent trends show a divergence of Massachusetts and Wisconsin yields. Massachusetts cranberry yields appear to be declining and unsteady, as the growers struggle with the tremendous changes that have occurred, while yields in Wisconsin continue to increase.