In 1959, a nationwide food panic erupted over a treasured Thanksgiving dish. Two weeks before the holiday, the federal government announced that cranberries had been contaminated by a cancer-causing chemical. Cranberry sales plummeted, schools tossed out cranberry products, restaurants eliminated the suspect fruit from menus. The White House even took a stance, serving applesauce in lieu of cranberries at Thanksgiving dinner.
The fear was overinflated: A person would have had to eat several thousand pounds of cranberries a day—for several years—to actually get cancer. While some feared cranberry sales would never recover, the industry rebounded from what became known as the “the Great Cranberry Scare of 1959.” Today, the United States is consistently the world’s top producer of cranberries, and the tiny berries are now known for their high levels of antioxidants.
Most cranberries come from Wisconsin and Massachusetts

2017 U.S. production, in barrels
Wisconsin
5.4 million
Oregon
490,000
Massachussetts
1.9 million
New Jersey
473,000
Washington
148,000
NG STAFF
SOURCE: USDA

2017 U.S. production, in barrels
Massachussetts
1.9 million
New Jersey
473,000
Wisconsin
5.4 million
Oregon
490,000
Washington
148,000
NG STAFF
SOURCE: USDA
The United States is the world’s leading cranberry producer, followed by Canada and Chile. U.S. farmers harvested 40,800 acres of cranberries last year, yielding a total of nearly 8.7 million barrels according to the Cranberry Marketing Committee. Just five states grow almost all of the country’s supply of the tart berries: Wisconsin produces more than half of all cranberries in the United States, Massachusetts harvests another third, and New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington produce much of the rest. (Cranberries have long been used as a superfood.)

Boston
Area
enlarged
MASSACHUSETTS
Cranberry
bogs
Cape Cod
Bay
Nantucket
Island
Martha’s
Vineyard
10 mi
10 km
ROSEMARY WARDLEY, NG STAFF.
SOURCES: KRISHNA KARRA AND TIM WALLACE,
DESCARTES LABS; EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY.

Boston
Area
enlarged
U.S.
Cranberry bogs
MASSACHUSETTS
Cape Cod
Bay
Martha’s Vineyard
Nantucket
Island
10 mi
10 km
ROSEMARY WARDLEY, NG STAFF.
SOURCES: KRISHNA KARRA AND TIM WALLACE, DESCARTES
LABS; EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY.
Because no official map of Massachusetts cranberry bogs exists, Descartes Labs created a machine learning algorithm to locate and map bogs using 2018 data from the Sentinel-1 satellite. This image shows their results, highlighting in red areas most likely to be cranberry bogs.
Cranberry sales spike during the holiday season

U.S. sales, 2000-2018, in barrels
January through April
3 million barrels
2 million
2000
2018
May through June
3 million barrels
2 million
2000
2018
July through August
3 million barrels
2 million
1 million
2000
2018
September through December
3 million barrels
2000
2018
NG STAFF
SOURCE: CRANBERRY MARKETING COMMITTEE

U.S. sales, 2000-2018, in barrels
January through
April
May through
June
September through
December
July through
August
3 million barrels
2 million
2000
2018
2000
2018
2000
2018
2000
2018
NG STAFF
SOURCE: CRANBERRY MARKETING COMMITTEE
Americans now devour close to 80 million pounds of cranberries every year during the week of Thanksgiving, according to Ocean Spray. That’s a whopping 20 percent of the country’s total yearly appetite for the red fruit. On average, 200 cranberries are needed to create a single can of sauce, and it takes more than four thousand cranberries to produce one gallon of juice.
Production has climbed steadily

Total production in barrels, 2000-2018
10 million barrels
8 million
2000
2018
NG STAFF
SOURCE: CRANBERRY MARKETING COMMITTEE

U.S. production, 2000-2018, in barrels
10 million barrels
8 million
6 million
2000
2018
NG STAFF
SOURCE: CRANBERRY MARKETING COMMITTEE
Grown on perennial vines, cranberries thrive in acid peat soil found in bogs and marshes. Total harvest in the U.S. slowly increased over the past 10 years, yielding 821,369 more barrels in 2018 than in 2008. Farmers have improved yield per acre by planting higher producing varieties and improving farming practices. (Watch a farmer harvest cranberries at Wisconsin’s oldest cranberry marsh.)
Cranberries grown domestically are sent around the world

Top 10 U.S. export markets, 2018-2019,
in barrels
Continental Europe
939,443
United
Kingdom
332,702
Mexico
302,214
Canada
128,771
China
112,798
Chile
42,601
Australia
92,927
South
Korea
37,551
Taiwan
41,598
Israel
36,892
NG STAFF
SOURCE: CRANBERRY MARKETING COMMITTEE

Top 10 U.S. export markets, 2018-2019, in barrels
United
Kingdom
332,702
Canada
128,771
Continental Europe
939,443
Chile
42,601
South
Korea
37,551
China
112,798
Australia
92,927
Mexico
302,214
Taiwan
41,598
Israel
36,892
NG STAFF
SOURCE: CRANBERRY MARKETING COMMITTEE
Where do the berries go once harvested? According to Ocean Spray, the states with the highest appetites for cranberries last year were California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Massachusetts. Internationally, the United Kingdom buys the most cranberries, followed by Germany, Mexico, and France.
SOURCES: Cranberry Marketing Committee, Ocean Spray, the Cranberry Institute, Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association, USDA