Pirrone serving Great Lakes region with cranberries
Pirrone serving Great Lakes region with cranberries
Local produce demand is the strength of the fresh cranberry marketing program of Mike Pirrone Produce. The firm, which is based in Capac, MI, sells cranberries to Great Lakes states, noted Joe Pirrone, a salesman for the firm. Pirrone’s cranberry brands are “Michigan Cranberry” and “Great Lakes Cranberry.”
“The big thing we are doing is selling local cranberries,” said Pirrone. “Everyone thought cranberries were only sold by big marketers. Now at Thanksgiving time you can have Michigan locally grown cranberries. This is all done in a good, food safety-audited facility. All the food-safety procedures are in place and it’s done the way it’s supposed to be.”
Pirrone packs cranberries in 12-ounce bags in 24-count boxes.
“That’s all we do,” he said. “Our grower, Michigan Cranberry, does other things. He markets to people who produce dried cranberries and juice. We are the fresh side.”
Michigan Cranberry Co., based in Marlette, MI, produces 4 million to 6 million pounds each year. Pirrone said that 25 percent of that tonnage goes to the fresh market.
Harvest this year will begin around Oct. 10, a typical start date. The cranberry bogs are flooded a couple of days before harvest.
Michigan Cranberry’s crop is “slightly reduced” this fall, but the supply to the fresh market will be there to fulfill orders. Fifty or 60 percent of the grower’s crop is the Stevens variety.
Pirrone noted that cranberry industry workers are paid $12 or $13 an hour, including worker’s compensation and other benefits. In light of low wages in countries exporting to the United States, the demand for produce grown locally, combined with lower freight costs, is very important to farmers in the United States.
Pirrone noted that cranberries are indigenous to the United States and have the healthy benefits of being “great for the urinary tract and blood.”
