Washington’s cranberry crop this year is estimated at 8,500 tons

ILWACO — Cranberry bogs in Washington produce solid hues of vibrant red each fall as one of the state’s lesser-known crops is harvested in the months before Thanksgiving.

This year’s estimated crop of about 170,000 barrels (8,500 tons) of cranberries puts the apple-giant state fifth in the U.S. behind Wisconsin and Massachusetts, the two states that produce the bulk of the crop.

Malcolm and Ardell McPhail have operated CranMac Farm for more than 35 years, one of the largest and oldest cranberry farms in Washington.

Their harvest of about 1,000 tons of cranberries this year is slightly down from 2015, but Malcolm says new varieties are increasing the yield per acre from the peat-rich soil on his farm and others.

The resulting surplus nationally has driven prices down, but McPhail says he’s optimistic.

“It’s nice to grow a healthy crop,” he said, adding, “We hardly eat a meal that we don’t have cranberries.”