United Cranberry Blog

Cranwars

lindaprehn — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:52:04 +0000

statementofundistutedmaterialfactsmay2013

This may be a statement of undisputed facts, but I’m thinking it will be disputed. Still, fascinating.

The best article I’ve read on the current situation

lindaprehn — Tue, 07 May 2013 02:00:16 +0000

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/us/article/Cranberry-farmers-struggle-as-surplus-drops-prices-4491725.php

Cranberry happenings

lindaprehn — Tue, 07 May 2013 01:46:27 +0000

So, the weather has finally improved in Wisconsin, and it looks like we will grow some cranberries this year! It was a long, cold winter in these parts.

I hear that Clement Pappas is paying $23.50 base and Cliffstar/Cott is paying $22.50. Decas has paid $14.50 so far. A year ago these prices were inconceivable. The CMC 4/30/2013 inventory numbers will be out soon and we will see where we stand with inventory. There isn’t much to say, except the prices are too low and the crop is too high. See: CMC February non vote for producer allotment. Again, I say, opportunity lost.

You may have heard that the USDA has approved some cranberry concentrate purchases through the Section 32 funds. $5,000,000 worth comes to what, 125,000 barrels? Sure it will help, but certainly we have to get on the stick and sell some more!

Did you see the announcement for the USDA Value Added Grant? Your very own United Cranberry was awarded a $300,000 grant. We will be making finished product and attending trade shows with those (matching) working capital funds. We are excited and grateful!

Finally, the cran wars continue. Here is a link on the latest, filed today.

cranwars5613

April in Wisconsin means Cranberries! or not.

lindaprehn — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 13:56:15 +0000

So this time last year we had irrigation pipes in, and cranberry growing season was fully underway. This year NOT! Lots of snow, ice and rain and it will be a few days/weeks before everything starts moving. We are READY!

Not much to report about except for that darn lawsuit. In an interesting post, it looks like Miller Canfield (the law firm that almost got things going a couple of years ago) is going to sign on as co counsel on this lawsuit.
cranswarsplaintiffsmotionapril52013

Also, here are the plaintiff’s reasons that the judge shouldn’t listen to Ocean Spray’s request for dismissal:

cranwarsapril42013

Interesting reading for a dreary day…

Cranberry war update

lindaprehn — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:01:35 +0000

cranwarssanctions3192013

Ok, so seriously? I had the wrong link up for a couple of days and just now someone tells me? I know people are reading the blog because I see the stats…so THANK YOU:)

Updates from the cranberry wars

lindaprehn — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 21:11:27 +0000

Some interesting filings in the lawsuit:in this first filing, OS asks the judge to throw out some arguements, and have an oral arguement on others. the second tab lists the attachments for OS’s filing

cranwarsosmotionforsanctionsmar2013

cranwarsmotiondismissalattachments3182013

This is the plaintiff’s response to the OS request.
cranwarsmotiondismissal3182013

I have to say, this is why there are judges, lawyers and lawsuits. Both sides have their points, both sides refer to a bunch of legal cases that prove their case. I’m sticking to blogging.

Amended complaint, OS motion for sanctions

lindaprehn — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:59:52 +0000

cranwarsosmotionforsanctionsmar2013

cranwarsamendedcomplaintmarch2013

read on!

I didn’t include the exhibits, mostly because they are many, many pages. If someone wants them, let me know.

Cranberry wars continued

lindaprehn — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 22:51:18 +0000

Ok, so in the ongoing lawsuit between Ocean Spray and independent growers, plaintiffs (independent growers) finally got their amended complaint in and filed. Phew! It was amended a few times. Ocean Spray has responded “hogwash” and wants the judge to throw most of the complaint out. I have to say, a lot of what Ocean Spray says makes some sense. Now the judge has to rule whether to let the case go forward or not. ***remember*** I’m not a lawyer, nor do I even attempt it. When my computer starts working and will let me post actually open an adobe file, I will post the link. Very interesting reading. The OS attachments include some interesting historical reading…re..the “severe” shortage of crop in the 2008 Annual report and the efforts they made to get planting going. They left out that they told all the indedepents to “keep on planting” and here we are in 2013 with a impending huge supply of cranberries. Everyone. Who wants to bet at their upcoming Annual Meeting that all blame for the supply situation will fall on the independent growers? Just saying.

Cranberry Marketing committee is not prepared to help growers

lindaprehn — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:11:01 +0000

I had hoped that the CMC would actually do their job to sustain orderly markets. Epic fail.

After all the gyrations yesterday, it was apparent a 35% producer allotment was the right number to take some 2mm barrels out of the supply, to assure orderly markets. This morning the motion was made to remove 25%, to make sure there was enough fruit to enter new markets, I guess. The motion falied with only 4 members voting for it. 2 abstentions Amazing. The Ocean Spray members seemed impatient to vote no, and when they got their chance they did vote no. Only one broke with the crowd and abstained. So, US growers, we are preparing to grow a crop of 7.5mm barrels and the markets only need 2.2mm barrels. You do the math!

I predict that some day we will look back and wish that we would have done something to help ourselves. Opportunity lost.

Cranberry Marketing Committee, Orlando, FL

lindaprehn — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:36:09 +0000

Well, it is time to head to the CMC meeting in Orlando. Usually everyone arrives on Sunday and the actual meeting is on Monday and Tuesday of this coming week, February 25, 26. I have to say that this is a wonderful time to leave WI, with snow falling. A year ago we were almost growing cranberries by this time! Yikes. Oh, and everyone was expecting the independents to make $35-40/barrel. Seriously.

So, what to expect from the CMC? Let’s start by reminding everyone that I am not a member or even an alternate. I go to these meetings to learn and try, try, TRY to figure out what is happening in the industry. The CMC has two main functions as I can tell. First of all, they take our $.28/barrel assessment and use it to generically advertise cranberries overseas and secondly, they can vote for a set aside to manage the size of the crop when we are over supplied. They also are the vehicle for numbers and reporting…can’t forget that part!

I think they really have a handle on the promotion part. Our international sales have steadily increased over the past 10 years…and I’m sure our efforts there have helped.

When it comes to volume regulation, EVERYONE I’ve talked to agrees that we have way too many berries in the freezer. Both Ocean Spray and the independents have too much fruit. Quebec and British Columbia had great crops and the projections are that additional new beds will be harvested this fall. What to do? The good news is….everyone is oversupplied. This means that maybe, maybe we can figure out how to deal with the situation. The US and BC have a marketing order, Quebec and Eastern Canada does not. We must figure out how to get Quebec into being part of the solution on this. All the US handlers are dropping their prices. Juice companies are searching around for low priced concentrate. The SDC prices are slipping. All around is bad news for growers…but yet…is it?

Say your sales history is 30,000 barrels and the set aside is 15%, so you can deliver 25,500 barrels. Without a set aside, the prices are going to be low, $15? What if, with a set aside we could get $25?
30,000 barrels x $15 = $450,000
25,500 barrels x $25= $637,500

Now, clearly I don’t know the prices, etc, etc…so don’t get all over me. I’m not the economist. I know that as an industry, we know how many barrels we sold last year, we know how many we took in and we can project how many barrels we can sell this year. It is math people! If we don’t continue to over supply the market, the prices will come up. Pure and simple.

Let’s come together in Orlando. We will have visitors from Canada and all the handler groups represented. Lets keep our egos in check and have a meaningful discussion. We can start with what we agree on: we delivered a lot of berries in 2012. If we can agree that by taking some fruit off the table in 2013 our prices will go up…then the only thing left to discuss is how and how much. Are you with me?