Former board member speaks out

4/29/00 Former Ocean Spray board member Jeffrey Kapell was interviewed for an article entitled "Cranberry country in crisis" by Charles Mathewson, published in the April 27, 1999 MPP newspapers. MPG publishes twelve weeklies covering the Massachusetts south shore area.

Speaking of new CEO Robert Hawthorne, Kapell is quoted as follows:

"What this new guy articulates is he's a leader. But he's delivering the worst news you can you can get. He knows marketing and he's turned around other companies. He will be honest with us and that's so refreshingly new to growers. It's a relief to have someone who not only knows what he's doing but will be square with us. The question is, how fast will he be able to turn things around and how many of us will be left."

Ocean Spray grower Jack Angley, a member of the board of the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Association, who is frequently interviewed by the media, is also quoted:

"It was hubris that got us here. Ocean Spray had overconfidence in its ability to market fruit. They were so convinced that they had the marketing operation in place, management made generous incentive for new acreage. There was a great rush of demand for cranberries in the early '90s. Ocean Spray used up that demand by increasing the supply. Independents responded by absolutely going off the charts with new acreage. As all these acres matured, Ocean Spray didn't have the resources to keep an orderly market."

The article also addressed the issue of how the cranberry crisis can effect property taxes:

"The sudden demise of the cranberry industry could effect property taxes. The state's department of revenue values bog land at $17,570 an acre. Next year's valuation will certainly decrease to reflect the loss in value of the crop. That will force taxes on non-bog land to increase."

The crisis in the cranberry industry and its effect on cranberry growers and the on local community is being well documented in the media in Massachusetts. Most or all of the local television stations have had reports on cranberry news. All of the numerous newspapers in the area cover it extensively, and most have reporters specifically assigned to the story. Articles generally include human interest interviews, with many poignant examples of the plight of growers and their families. Farmers who are fiercely protective of their privacy* now find that virtually "everybody knows their business." They used to resent people asking them "how many acres do you have," when the real question was an unthinkably rude "how much do you earn a year?"  Now acquaintances are more likely to ask whether growers have taken a second job yet, or just look at them with what might seem like pity or ingenuous sympathy, and ask "how are you doing?" These are not comfortable questions for the proud and self-sufficient farmer.  HB

* This isn't to say that all farmers are repelled by "others knowing their business." I wrote about self-disclosure in the Introduction to the Farm Stress section of this web site and again in an article entitled Personality styles and how you cope with stress.

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